Clouds were gathering on a hot, humid Florida Fall afternoon. Four members of the CPR Team (Austin Karrick, Chris Ewing, Jim Engelmann and Frank Bozikovich) stepped up to the first hole of the Cove Cay golf course. It was the FGCAR Annual Golf Tournament, and this was “The Fastest Hole Competition”.
The Fastest Hole Competition challenges tournament foursomes to get the ball from the tee box into the hole on a par 4 in the fastest possible time. No one player can hit the ball twice in a row.
The first hole of Cove Cay is a 360 yard par 4 with sand traps flanking the landing area of the initial drive and the front right lip of the green. The group arrived at the hole during the latter part of the tournament, so many of the other teams had already taken their turn. Austin asked the Flying Locksmith representative, who had sponsored the competition, what was the time to beat. Not wanting to give too much away, all the rep said was, “You guys have to be under 30 seconds.”
The mark was set, and our team began planning.
Jim, who has participated in this event for three years now, immediately laid out a plan of attack. He would be the first shot, Austin and Chris would be responsible for the second/approach shot and Frank would be on the green for the finishing putt.
After a small discussion, they took their positions along the fairway.
The team gave their final thumbs up to the timekeeper and Jim teed off. He hit a piercing drive that began to favor the right side of the fairway, heading right at Austin, towards a bunker. Jim crushed the drive as it sailed over the bunker and just clearing Austin’s head. Realizing that he needed to get to the green to back up Frank on the putt, Chris took off running at top speed.
The ball came to rest about 70 yards away from the hole. Austin steps up to the ball and quickly assesses the next shot. He can hear the timekeeper saying, “Take your time! Take your time!”
He takes his swing and flushes the ball, it takes a high trajectory right towards the hole. Unsure of if he hit it far enough, he fears of the encroaching sand traps nip at his confidence. The ball reaches its pinnacle and begins to descend, a plop, and relief! It bounces just on the outer fringe of the green and rolls towards the hole.
Frank is at the ready. He lines up his putt before the ball has even rolled to a stop. Chris arrives at the green for a final tap-in, if needed. When ball finally comes to a rest, Frank pulls back. A slight *tink* can be heard as his putter contacts the ball. It rolls right towards the hole and drops in!
Celebrations begin, but was it good enough?
Austin looks back to the timekeeper and sees his mouth dropped open.
“What was the time?”
*Silence*
“What was the time?”
Finally, the ref speaks, “19 seconds!”
High fives all around – they are confident this number can’t be beat.
At the awards ceremony the team awaits the news.
The owner of The Flying Locksmith takes the podium and tells the crowd that they sponsor this Fastest Hole Competition at 19 other tournaments nationwide and there has never been a winning team with a faster time in any of the events hosted by the Flying Locksmith. The CPR Team swept past all competitors with a time of 19 seconds, a record that the sponsor “is confident, will never be beat”.
The team expects to soon receive their trophy and will surely be enshrined into the Golfers’ Fastest Hole Hall of Fame.
