Every now and then, a golf story comes along that seems like it can’t possibly be true—an aberration of probability so great the rational mind can hardly accept it as fact. This is one of those stories.
On Monday morning at 8:30 a.m., Sewanee golf team sophomore Niel Phillips, stepped up to the par-3 8th hole, his first of the day at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Rome, Georgia, and “flushed it.” Despite the cold, wet conditions, it flew straight and true and found the bottom of the cup. That was ace number one.
A few hours later, Phillips returned to the 8th tee to begin his second round. We’ll let Sewanee head golf coach Keenan Hickton tell the rest.
“The second one, it was the same shot [as the first], dead straight and never left the flag, but the sun was a little different so we weren’t sure it went in, and I think we were both just in disbelief that it wouldn’t be possible. But when we walked up there, the closer we got, we saw a ball mark about four feet short and you could see nothing on the green anywhere else.
I don’t know how he played golf for the next five or six holes because everyone in the group was just like in shock.”
“PERFECT SHOTS ALL THE WAY!"
A D3 golfer aced the same hole twice on the same day Monday at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Rome, Georgia.@SewaneeTigers sophomore Niel Phillips began his first round with a hole-in-one (6-iron from 182 yards) on the par-3 eighth hole at… pic.twitter.com/KLeBShUZVm
— Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) October 20, 2025
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Not even Phillips could believe what he had done.
“I was in disbelief, like there’s no way that can happen,” he said. “It was a very up-and-down day, and I played very average otherwise, so it’s hard to put this above some tournament wins that I’ve had in high school. But so far in college, this is No. 1 – and maybe, forget about tournament, this might be the best day of golf in my life. Can’t beat two holes-in-one on the same hole on the same day, and the first swing of the day. Crazy.”
Despite the stirking similarity between the two shots, Phillips made his first ace with his 6-iron due to the morning conditions, and his second with his 7-iron as the day warmed up. Unfortunately, he only managed to keep one of the fateful balls, losing his first ace ball in the water on the very next hole. It doesn’t sound like Phillips is losing sleep over it, though.
“People don’t have to know that – it was the same ball, same ball,” he joked.
Don’t worry, man. You’re secret is safe with us.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
