It wasn’t a great day for golf, but that didn’t stop senior Addison Smith from making the shot of the year for the Ankeny girls’ team.
Smith recorded a hole-in-one during the Turk Bowman Invitational on Monday at Veenker Golf Course in Ames. She used an 8-iron to ace the par-3, 132-yard, No. 6 hole.
“This was my first hole-in-one!” said Smith. “I could see the pin and my ball roll in the hole, but my initial thought was that I hit it way past the pin and off the green. But the ball hit just right of the cup around 5 feet and had a nice draw and rolled right in!”
Smith carded a 102 to lead Ankeny to a tie for 11th place in the 18-team field. The Hawkettes posted a score of 442, matching Clear Lake’s total.
Gilbert shot a 340 to defend its team title. Ames was the runner-up with a 358, while Norwalk took third with a 380.
“Overall, it might have been our hardest day for golf yet,” said Ankeny coach Kelley Emke. “The wind was brutal coupled with the difficult course layout at Veenker. The girls did great staying positive. They all would have liked to see lower scores, but we had some great shining moments.”
Isabella Ross fired a 109 for the Hawkettes. Gracie Block shot a 113, Ava Sesker had a 118, and Aubree Moeller added a 130.
“We had lots of pars as a team, a few birdies, and a hole-in-one gives us a lot of bright spots to walk away and focus on,” Emke said. “This was our only meet this week so we are looking forward to having some practice time before next week and conference the following week.”