A 340-yard hole-in-one comes on 12 year anniversary of another ace

Golfers know the very rare hole-in-one is a stunning upset over the laws of probability.

Vikings team-operations manager Paul Martin knows that well, times two now.

Martin's second hole-in-one in his life came not only on a 343-yard, par 4 on Sunday at CreeksBend golf course; that ace was longer than any ever made on the PGA Tour.

It also came 12 years to the day that he made his first one — June 14, 2008 — on the very same course, only that one more probable that his second because it came with a 7-iron on the 150-yard, par-3 third hole.

This one was one shot on the fifth hole during a men's club event at the New Prague course.

Martin's blind drive aimed Sunday at a silo near the clubhouse disappeared over a bump in the fairway and down a hill about 150 yards from the green after the big hitter ripped a tee shot that was out of sight.

"That was a true driver," Martin said.

Martin's group looked for the ball left and short of the green. One of his partners then searched behind it while Martin took a walk-by just to peer into the hole.

"If you've played long enough, you've had plenty of shots where it's over a hill and you go look in the hole and never find it," Martin said. "This time, it was. I walked over and at the bottom of the cup was a Titleist 5 with three purple dots staring straight up. I knew immediately, no doubt, that was my ball."

Connelly had told Martin to go look in the hole, and said when Martin saw the ball, "He looked like he had seen a ghost."

Andrew Magee was the first PGA Tour pro — and the last — to make a hole-in-one on a par-4 in competition — with a 323-yard ace at the 2001 Phoenix Open. He did so with a drive that deflected off the group on the green ahead and rolled into the hole.

The longest recorded hole-in-one came at altitude on a 517-yard par 5 at a course outside Denver in 2002. Many of the hole-in-ones on par 5 have come on holes with dogleg fairways or a horseshoe design that noticeably decreases the hole's length.

"Ever since I've been big and strong enough to drive a par 4, my all-time golfing goal was to get an ace on a par 4," Martin said.

Martin's tee shot went 193 farther than his par-3 ace at Creeksbend's third hole exactly 12 years earlier.

The only reason Martin knew the exact date: He received an alert on his phone Sunday morning that told him that co-worker Luther Hippe, a Vikings' operations team-travel director, was celebrating his wedding anniversary that day.

"I remembered I had played golf before his wedding and got a hole-in-one," Martin said.

His second ace triggered memories of that first and its circumstance.