© Jordan Prather/Imagn
Audio By Carbonatix
Unless you’re the absolute most diehard of golf watchers in the United States, you likely weren’t up early on Friday watching the second round of the DP World Tour South African Open. Which is a shame. Because if you had been, you would have witnessed something that I feel comfortable saying you will never see again during a professional golf tournament at that level.
Dale Whitnell, a 36-year-old Englishman who has only ever played in one major (the 2012 Open Championship) and has just one career European Tour victory, pulled off the impossible. Whitnell recorded not one, but two holes-in-one in a single round en route to shooting a 63.
Both of @Dale_Whitnell‘s holes-in-one from the second round 🤯#InvestecSAOpen pic.twitter.com/jtbo1EngXP
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 28, 2025
Whitnell’s holes-in-one came on the Par 3 second and 12th holes respectively, and somehow only phone footage exists of the second, otherwise nobody would have believed him.
To put it into perspective. The odds of making a hole in one are about 12,500-1 for the average golfer. For professional golfers, the odds of making a hole in one drop to 2,500-1. That alone is difficult. But it doesn’t give an accurate scope of how insane this feat is.
The estimated odds of making two holes-in-one in the same round are 67,000,000-1. SIXY-SEVEN MILLION TO ONE!
DP World Tour Golfer Dale Whitnell Calls Two Holes-In-One In One Round ‘Bizarre’
“I got off to a hot start as they say,” Whitnell, who ranked No. 545 in the world, said after his round. “I birdied the first and then hit a flush seven iron on the second and didn’t realize that it had gone in until down the bottom [greenside] they cheered so that was lovely.
“I hit two hybrid, hybrid into the par five and made eagle there so I was five under through three which I have never done before and then managed to get another hole-in-one at the 12th. It was bizarre.”
That’s quite the understatement! Whitnell had never made a hole-in-one in tournament play prior to Friday. Honestly, at 36 years old, this might be a sign to call it a career. You’re never going to top this at any point. So why not go out on the highest of highs.
Tiger Woods never did this. Jack Nicklaus never did this. Dale Whitnell is truly one-of-a-kind. Well, he and that random old lady from Florida back in 2020…