Josh Berry albatross at Pro Tour event
In his short life Josh Berry has already packed in plenty of golfing achievement but yesterday at Headingley Golf Club, pulled off something that 99% of golfers can only dream about.
Last year Berry became the youngest ever winner of the Yorkshire County Championship and when he was just 12, became the first English boy to win the French U-14s.
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However even those incredible achievements were surpassed yesterday at the Pro Tour event when the Doncaster GC player recorded an albatross at the West Yorkshire venue.
Playing the 505-yard, par five 14th, Berry crunched a driver up the left and watched it sail in on the wind into the middle of the fairway. He then had just 160 left and pinged a nine iron at the left edge of the green and saw it arrow straight towards the hole.
His playing partners Liam Mitchell and Stephen McNally had the better view and were quickly able to confirm the ball had taken one bounce and gone straight in for a two.
“I had had a nice up and down on the last hole so was feeling good and hit a really nice drive just where I was aiming,” said the 16-year-old.
“The wind was helping so I aimed left again and, to be fair, it was all over it. It never looked anywhere else. I’ve never even had a hole in one so to get an albatross, in such a big event… I’ll definitely take it!”
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Cue some fairly vigorous high fiving on the fairway and Josh was delighted to first see his pitch mark just six feet from the hole and then peer into the cup for official confirmation.
The astonishing shot took him to one under par and he would close with a three-over-par 74 on a day when the brutal conditions took their toll.
The Pro Tour events allow pros and amateurs to play together and the England Boys star was the only amateur to finish in the top ten. Hallowes player George Ash was a shot further back in joint 12th. Formby-based pro Paul Kinnear won with a level-par 71.