‘Miracle’ ball nets 2 holes-in-one for separate golfers on same day
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A young golfer from St. Louis Park will have quite the story to tell for decades to come.
Preston Miller is a better-than-average player for his age. At just 13 years old, the middle schooler has already made the varsity golf team at St. Louis Park High School.
“Terrific player,” Dan Simpson, the pro at the Minneapolis Golf Club, said while describing the teen.
But to pull off this history-making moment takes more than skill. While out golfing Thursday at the Minneapolis Golf Club, Preston sunk a hole-in-one on the fourth hole.
“It was crazy, just the hole-in-one alone,” Preston said. To top it off, it was in front of his teammates and friends. “I was jumping up and down, yelling,” he added.
Golfer Preston Miller, 13, holds up a golf ball emblazoned with the St. Louis Park High School logo. Preston hit a hole-in-one with an identical ball on Thursday, June 2, 2022, but lost it a few holes later. A golfer playing behind him later discovered it and hit his own hole-in-one. (KSTP)
Regrettably, the St. Louis Park teen put the Titleist 4 ball, marked with “SLP,” back in play only to lose the ball three holes down in the rough.
“I was not expecting to lose the ball,” he said.
However, if the teen golfer didn’t end up losing the ball, what happened next might have never taken place.
Simpson explained that after Preston lost his hole-in-one ball, another player discovered it while passing through and stuck the lost ball in his bag.
When that player, Ricardo Fernandez, also lost a ball on the links, he reached into his bag, pulled out the ball marked with SLP and teed up.
“Ended up making a hole-in-one on 16 and the rest is history,” Simpson said.
No one knew the significance of this second hole-in-one until both Fernandez and Miller were celebrating back at the clubhouse.
“Everyone at my table was just blown away because that was my hole-in-one ball, so I also hit a hole-in-one with it,” Preston said, adding it was unlikely that a second Titleist 4 ball would be found in the same location with the same logo on it.
Days later, players on the course now know Preston by name and the story that will now follow him on the links forever.
“It’s just incredible that somebody could make two holes in one with one ball and two people,” said Chip Parks, a longtime player at the club.
His golfing partner, Tom Morgan, was also amazed: “I think it’s inconceivable.”
But no one, more than the young golfer himself, believe it’s been done or can be ever again.
“None of us believed it,” Miller said.
Simpson likened the feat to “a miracle.”
“There are people out there that have had two hole-in-ones in one round, but to find out two different people made it with one ball? It may have never happened in the history of golf,” Simpson said.
Minneapolis Golf Club says they will be displaying a look-a-like ball to honor the story, and also so Miller can hang on to his now-famous golf ball.
“He has a lucky golf ball, that’s for sure,” Simpson said.