Invermere resident and avid golfer Jim Jenkinson just made the shot of his career — for the second time.
Jenkinson could hardly believe it when he made a hole-in-one on the 15th hole at the Windermere Valley Golf Club during the men’s club championship in September 2002. That shot won him $10,000 and another $1,000 for the charity of his choice, as the hole was sponsored (for the event) by Invermere Glass.
Earlier this week, on Monday, May 23rd, Jenkinson and his wife were golfing with Invermere Glass owners Jeff and Lynn Watson at the Windermere Valley Golf Club, and as the two couples approached the 15th hole, they began reminiscing about the amazing shot, 14 years earlier. To everybody’s surprise Jenkinson then repeated his performance, hitting another hole in one.
“Same golf course, same hole, same iron, same brand of ball and the pin was almost in the exact same place,” Jenkinson told the Echo. “We were actually talking about the prize I won last time, and about how Jeff and I had done a photo for the Echo marking the hole-in-one (in 2002) with our kids standing in front and us standing in the back. We were joking that if it were to happen again, we’d be the ones standing in front, since all of our kids are taller than us now. And then 30 seconds later I go and hit the hole-in-one again.”
The couples’ main reaction was to laugh and giggle, according to Jenkinson.
“The odds of this happening have got to be off the charts,” he said. “There’s no $10,000 prize this time, but it is still nice to get another hole-in-one.”
Upon realized he’d sunk the hole-in-one in 2002, Jenkinson had shouted out “We’re going to Disneyland” (a common cliche used by winning professional sports teams at the time), and then kept true to that by using the prize money to take his kids there. He donated the $1,000 to the Alberta Children’s Hospital.