Notebook: Hall Finds Aces Are Lucky For Second Year In A Row

By Alex Miceli

Hutchinson, Kan. – Playing in his eighth U.S. Senior Open championship, Walter Hall scored the first hole-in-one at this year's championship and his second in his career en route to shooting a 7-over-par 77.

"It's sort of a luck shot, isn't it?" said Hall of his 172-yard shot on the par-3 10th hole.  "I was just trying to get it up on that green somewhere up there."

Hall had also aced the 202-yard 13th hole with a 4-iron in the second round of the 2005 U.S. Senior Open at NCR Country Club. It was one of three aces at NCR that year; Curtis Strange and Rick Rhoden and the other two.

Hall's ace was the 14th in Senior Open history, but is the first ever to repeat.  There have been three others to repeat in USGA history: Nancy Porter in 1972 and 1976 at the U.S. Women's Amateur; Donald Bliss aced two holes in the same round at the 1987 Mid-Amateur; and Bill Ploeger made aces at the 1996 and 2003 Senior Amateur.

"I didn't see it," said Hall. "I hit a really good 7-iron and it landed about 15 feet short, right of the hole and hit that hump, and we couldn't see from the tee.  But we heard the folks at the green yell."

In the last three U.S. Senior Opens there have been seven aces.

Fuzzy Picture

Fuzzy Zoeller's career on the Champions Tour has not mirrored his success on the PGA Tour, where he won 10 times, including two major championships. 

Since turning 50 in late 2001, Zoeller, now 54, has won only twice on the senior circuit. But his 1-under-par 69 Friday was his best score in the Senior Open since a 66 in the second round at Bellerive Country Club in 2004. It's made him a longshot entering the weekend, yet at least he has a chance.

"Well, you know what I had? Three three-putts [Thursday] and I was just hitting the wrong side of the mounds," he said.  "And you got to get the ball to the right levels.  And I wasn't doing that; I was suffering.  Trust me, I was trying to putt up over these humps and down over, and the cup was sitting down over the other side of it. It was tough."

Zoeller was 7 over through 15 holes on Thursday, but finished with three birdies in a row to get it back to 4 over. Five birdies and four bogeys produced his 1-under-par 69 Friday.

But when you ask him about his turnaround, vintage Zoeller comes out.

"I don't know," Zoeller said. "I played, I shot a 69.  I'm happy I'm here. I'm now sitting here 3 over.  So I'm making a slow comeback.  It's an Open, hell's fire, crazy things happen, what can you do?"

Irwin's Championship

Hale Irwin is one of only seven players to have won both a U.S. Open and a U.S. Senior Open in his career, but in Friday's second round he didn't look like that same player.

Irwin, 61, instead looked like many of the befuddled professionals that walked off the Prairie Dunes course wondering what just happened.  Irwin almost hit for the cycle with an eagle, four birdies, seven pars, five bogeys and a costly triple bogey that Irwin couldn't remember at first. And when he did, it was more in bemusement then in a factual recreation of what exactly happened.

"We're going to talk about seven, we're not going to talk about eight," said Irwin. "I hit a great drive and a 6-iron and made about a 20-foot putt for an eagle.  And that was after a beautiful drive and wedge at the previous hole and a nice putt.  And then we went to nine and I made a great par putt.  And I don't know what happened at eight.  I'm sure somebody can tell you about it, because I'm sure not going to.  Other than I hit it seven times.  Let's put it that way."

Irwin, who has 44 victories on the Champions Tour, has not won in 2006. If he doesn't  win this year, it will be the first time since he joined the tour in 1995 that he has not gotten into the winners circle.  But he has had his chances with a second-place finish at the Outback Pro-Am and a fourth at the Liberty Mutual Legends.

"I just had a day where my body wasn't working," Irwin said. "I hit the ball really quite well [Thursday] and didn't score nearly as well as I could have.  And then today I hit the ball just terribly."

Irwin has been fighting a nagging lower back ailment during the year, which has contributed to his up-and-down play, which was evident on Friday.

"It just doesn't allow me to go out there and hit the ball. Like [Thursday], it was fine, today it's not," he said.  "So I go day-to-day."

No Stranger

George "Buddy" Marucci was participating in his first U.S. Senior Open Championship, but he is no stranger to USGA events. He's played in a total of 23 U.S. Amateurs and 14 Mid-Amateurs, and he was a member of the 1995 and 1997 U.S. Walker Cup teams. Earlier this year he was named as captain for the 2007 Walker Cup team.

Of course, Marucci is best known for losing to then amateur Tiger Woods in the 1995 U.S. Amateur at Newport Country Club.

"Well, I think that the most important thing to do is to get to the get to all the amateur tournaments, which I've done," said Marucci. ""I'm going to play in most of them this year.  Kind of fun for me, but also to get to know the kids.  And I've started at that.  I've started to coordinate some of the logistics with the USGA.  I'm going to go to Ireland here in the next month or two.  Spend some time over there start to understand the golf course a little bit."

The 2007 Walker Cup will be held at Royal County Down on Sept. 8-9, with the U.S. trying to retain the cup it won at Chicago Golf Club last year, 12 ½ to 11 ½.

As part of his process of getting to know the players better, Marucci will try to qualify for his 24th U.S. Amateur, but if that doesn't happen, he will continue to play in amateur events.

"I try to get paired with some nice young men and it gets pretty apparent who the good players are going to be, but it is early," said Marucci.  "We've got a year to go before the team gets picked.  So a lot can happen in a year."

Unfortunately for Marucci, his first U.S. Senior Open was a limited success. After shooting a 1-over 71 in Thursday's first round, he ballooned to a 12-over 82 and missed the cut.

"I haven't been playing that much," Marucci said.  "I've been playing a few tournaments but my game's OK.  I mean, I don't have any expectations.  I don't get to practice as much as I used to."