Staff WriterIt’s one thing to win your Club Championship Final. It’s another to do it with not one, but two holes-in-one in the same round. That’s exactly what Gavin Bourne managed at Droitwich Golf Club in Worcestershire last weekend, turning a match-play final into the stuff of golfing folklore.
The 47-year-old 0.4-handicapper went into his 36-hole clash with Tom Ainge expecting a tough day’s work. What he delivered was a mix of brilliance, disbelief, and a pair of aces that will be retold in clubhouse corners for years.
Bourne, who first picked up a club at 13, admitted he’d only ever had one hole-in-one in proper company before Sunday—back when he was a junior. He had two solitary aces in quiet evening rounds, the last more than a decade ago. Waiting years for one, then finding two in a single afternoon? That’s golf for you.
The first came at the 3rd hole, playing 175 yards. Armed with a 6-iron, Bourne struck one that looked promising but was hidden from view.
“We saw it land but you can’t really see the green,” he recalled. “Walking up, there was a pitch mark about three foot in front of the hole, but also Tom’s ball five feet away from it. I said ‘Am I going to look a bit daft if I walk up to the green without my putter?!’ And we got up to the hole and there it was!
“I then proceeded to top it all the way down the 4th—I think I was in shock so I changed balls then!”
That would’ve been enough for most golfers to dine out on for a lifetime. But lightning struck again on the 15th. From 187 yards, Bourne pulled a 5-iron, watched it catch the bank, and then roll trickily down to the flag.
“The Club Captain who was refereeing went straight up to the green to watch us tee off. He saw my ball go in, but he kept calm until Tom had hit his tee shot,” Bourne explained. “All of a sudden he then appeared with his arms in the air and took a picture of the hole! I thought he was having me on!
“I couldn’t believe it. As soon as I got that ball out the hole, I changed over and kept it. I think I’ll get some sort of box for them and stick them on the mantelpiece—although the kids will probably nick them and hit them round the garden!”
That second hole-in-one sealed an emphatic 8&6 victory and the Droitwich Club Championship title. Asked how he celebrated, the plumbing and heating engineer admitted: “I put a bottle of whiskey behind the bar and got some of the lads a beer after, so I’m not sure how much it’s cost me yet!”
His triumph also earned him a spot at the Champion of Champions event at Welwyn Garden City, Nick Faldo’s old stomping ground. “They do a Champion of Champions for the Faldo Commemoration Jug so I’ve qualified for that meaning next year’s Captain will caddy for me. I’m really looking forward to it!” he said.
Even England Golf were left shaking their heads at the odds. Championships Director James Crampton put it bluntly: “The odds of two aces in a round are estimated to be 67 million to 1, so Gavin’s achievements are astonishing—especially considering it was in a Club Championship Final!”
For Bourne, though, the maths hardly matters. Two holes-in-one in one round, a trophy in his hands, and a whiskey bill running somewhere north of reasonable—it’s a weekend no golfer in Droitwich will soon forget.
