Golfer records two aces in one round

CALCUTTA -- Stephen Kaufman of Mount Vernon, Ohio had a round to remember on Sunday at Turkana Golf Course.

Kaufman, 38, aced the No. 6 and No. 17 holes in the final round of a long golf weekend in the East Liverpool area.

On the 132-yard No. 6 Kaufman used an 8-iron for his first hole-in-one of his life. He said he hit to the right of the pin on that shot and it spun to the left and went in.

His playing partners -- Sean Sigman, John Stephens and Randy Swihart -- thought that would be the highlight of the day.

Then lightning struck twice.

On the 134-yard No. 17, Kaufman dropped it in again with a pitching wedge.

“I heard it hit the pin and go in,” Kaufman said. “Sigman turned to me and said ‘On what did you do? Did you do it again?’ I turned to him and said ‘Yeah, I did.’ We all started hugging each other after that.”

Kaufman texted his wife right after and said she was pretty excited for him.

His timing was just about right for his wallet, too.

Kaufman, who has no connection to the East Liverpool area, said that a bunch of guys have been playing this outing in the East Liverpool area for about 30 years and he was invited to play in the last 10. He said it starts on Friday and winds up on Sunday. The round at Turkana was the last of the weekend.

“Usually the guys are heavy drinkers, so I was a little bit worried about buying rounds after, but since it was Sunday they were worn out from the weekend,” Kaufman said. “I bought the drinks, but I don’t think anyone really had any. It was not a hefty bill.”

He said he finished the round in the low to mid 70s, but wasn’t really sure how that stacks up because he only plays in a scramble league once a week.

“Obviously you’re not hitting your own ball in that,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman said when he finished the round and told owner Doug Hoppel what happened, he didn’t believe it.

“He was kind of shocked,” Kaufman said. “He said it had never happened at Turkana before.”

The graduate of Mansfield Christian High School who later played four years of basketball at Grace College in Indiana, has played golf since high school.

“In high school it was just something to do,” Kaufman said. “I wasn’t very good.”

Now he’s done something few others have in the game as the chances of two holes-in-one in a round are 1 in 67 million.