Teenage amateur celebrates epic $60,000 prize for hole-in-one

Teenage amateur Chloe Veeran celebrated an unforgettable moment as she won a $60,000 car for making an incredible hole-in-one in Western Australia.

Veeran, 16, made the ace on the 17th hole, her eighth of the day, in the Izuzu Southwest Open pro-am, a coveted regional tournament held at Bunbury Golf Club.

The talented Aussie, whose handicap is 1, struck a 7-iron from 137 metres to claim the epic prize, which was an Isuzu D-Max Ute worth around $60,000.

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She had been playing in the first group of the final round, and could not contain her excitement when her ball disappeared and she realised what she had just done.

The thrilling moment was captured on cameras as Veeran was filmed sprinting towards the green in sheer ecstasy to confirm the hole-in-one.

Crucially, the moment Veeran’s ball dropped in the cup was also captured on a smartphone camera set up behind the green – which is an insurance policy for having a prize up for grabs as the ace must be witnessed.

A shot of a LIFETIME 🤯

The unforgettable moment 16-year-old Chloe Veeran from Busselton WA had a hole-in-one during a local Pro-am to win a $60,000 car! Enjoy your new wheels 🚗 pic.twitter.com/DDA3sG75Ly

— Golf Australia ⛳️ (@GolfAust) June 6, 2023

Incredible: for insurance reasons, a hole in one offering a prize must be filmed, witnessed. Smartphone captured an ace from 16yo Chloe Veeran at Bunbury GC in first group of the day. Prize was a $60,000 car. Fun note via @steve_keipert: Seve Ballesteros played Bunbury GC in 1979 pic.twitter.com/laaZyG0V4y

— Evin Priest (@EvinPriest) June 6, 2023

And a timely recent change to the R&A’s Rules of Golf means Veeran, who is yet to learn how to drive, can now keep her prize.

Previously, amateurs would not have been allowed to accept a hole-in-one prize, but that all changed on January 1, 2022 when new rules stipulated that ‘during a tee-to-hole golf competition, provided the length of the shot is at least 50 yards’, a prize can now be accepted.

Bunbury Golf Club General Manager Des Shearer, who set up the camera which captured the hole-in-one, was in disbelief that an ace was made so early on in the day.

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“I walked around and said, I really don’t want it to go off this morning; I’d like it to be around two or three o’clock when we’ve got the hospitality, the watering hole DJ going full tilt,” he told Golf Australia.

“And you wouldn’t believe it, the very next hit, I’m standing there as Chloe strikes this left-handed shot straight at it.

“It was rolling through a couple of shadows on the green, you could see it, and then it disappeared, and then you could see it again, and it disappeared.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.