With one swing of the club, Drew Pratt, senior in finance, stole the show last Saturday during the two-person best shot intramural golf tournament at Veenker Memorial Golf Course. To his own surprise, Pratt hit a hole-in-one on hole 17.

“I hit it, and it bounced on the green, so I figured the ball was short, like there was a ridge there or something,” Pratt said. “I was like, ‘Where the hell did my ball go?'”

Pratt’s teammate, Seth Rockers, was the one who found the ball in the hole – Pratt thought he had lost it.

“I saw the ball hit the green, and then it rolled, and I lost it,” Rocker, also a senior in finance, said. “Drew thought it was short, but I thought it was on the green. Then I looked in the hole, and it was there.”

Pratt was flirting with destiny on the 16th hole, when, according to Rocker, he was six inches away from sinking an 80-yard shot.

After Rocker found the ball in the hole, he picked it up and tossed it to Pratt.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Pratt said. “I was so excited. I didn’t believe Seth. He turned to me and smiled. It didn’t hit me until I was at the next tee box.”

Rocker said Pratt was immediately on his phone after completing the pinnacle of golf shots.

“He was texting and calling a lot of people,” Rocker said.

In high school, Pratt went to state twice while competing for Sioux City East, but said he doesn’t get out to play as much now that he’s in college

“This was my first round of the year,” Pratt said. “In college, I play as much as I can, which is about four times a month.”

Pratt kept the ball, and his preliminary plans are to buy a plaque for it, but nothing is set in stone yet.

Pratt not only gets a keepsake with his hole-in-one ball, but he was also given an intramural champion T-shirt for his achievement.

Rocker, on the other hand, came away empty-handed because the two, as a team, didn’t qualify for any prizes. The pair shot a 78.

According to the Recreation Services Web site, Hargis and Grove won the “Championship” flight with a score of 65, Brandon and Lettow won the “A” flight with a 74, Youngblade and Pittman took the “B” flight shooting an 82, and the “C” flight winners were Pieper and Reed with 88.

The players turned out at 8:30 Saturday morning, a tough calling for college students, but surprisingly, said Linda Marticke, intramurals coordinator, everybody showed up.

The chance to compete in an intramural at Veenker Memorial Golf Course is hard to pass up, however, no matter what the circumstances. In 2003, Golfweek magazine named Veenker the third-best golf course in the state.

“Veenker is an exceptionally beautiful course. I think the students enjoy getting the opportunity to play there,” Marticke said. “They do an excellent job of checking the students in and getting the course ready.”