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Hole-in-one worth a million
By MATTHEW WAITE, Times Staff Writer
That's what a nervous Ron Voller faced as he stood on the tee of the 10th hole of Timber Greens golf course during a charity hole-in-one event. Voller, 64, remembered the lesson he got earlier Saturday from the Timber Greens golf pro: Get the left shoulder behind the ball, and don't lean the club into the ball, just let it swing. "The other prayer I said to myself was, 'Please, God, let me hit it farther than the end of the tee box,' " he recalled. Voller took a healthy cut. The Calloway War Bird ball given to him that morning sprung off the face of his Pro Staff 5-iron. For about 177 yards, the ball flew straight and true. It landed about 10 yards short of the green, took a hop and began rolling straight for the pin. "I can see it rolling into the middle of the hole, but I don't remember much after that," Voller said. The contest giving duffers a cool million for a hole-in-one had been going on for three months at Timber Greens, Lost Oaks and Nine Eagles golf courses as a charity event benefiting All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. The Amoco Dealers and Jobbers for Kids Inc., a group of current and former Amoco employees, has raised more than $900,000 for the Children's Miracle Network since 1991, member Dick Burd said Monday. Contestants paid $2 at the courses to try to qualify. The closest ball to a particular hole that day on two of the three courses qualified contestants for the final, million-dollar shot. Voller was the last of six contestants to take their shot. Only one before him had hit the green at all. Burd was on the green when Voller's shot landed and "the damned thing rolled into the hole," Burd said. "Just to stand there and watch the ball hit the green and roll right into the hole was something." Also standing there was Matt Cote, the course pro who gave Voller and his wife, Jean, the lesson that morning. After 20 years of being a club pro, Cote said he had never seen anything like Voller's shot "with all that on the line." But Cote's taking no credit for the shot. "He's the one who had to hit it," Cote said. Contest organizers aren't on the hook for the million. That burden belongs to Hole in One Inc., a company that sells insurance to charity events. To cover six shots, Burd said, they had to pay $995. The event didn't raise as much money as they hoped, Burd said, but with Voller's big win, they hope next year's contest will bring more people. "It pays to play," Burd said. Well, kind of. Voller jokes that he'll be 104 when he gets his last payment. Hole in One Inc. distributes the cash from a 40-year annuity, $25,000 a year, but only after the contest organizers fill out a pile of forms and affidavits, and an insurance investigator comes out to interview all the witnesses. "They're not giving me a million dollars just because we said I did it," Voller said. For a man who lives near the 14th hole at Timber Greens, who has been playing golf for more than 30 years, and who has a 22 handicap, Voller would not seem a good bet for a hole-in-one. But, in fact, he has two others. His third, though, is the biggest by far. "I guess I was really lucky," Voller said.
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