Moses Lake sees two hole-in-ones over weekend

MOSES LAKE — Two golfers hit holes in one at The Links at Moses Pointe this weekend, with Moses Lake’s AJ Escamilla and Royal City’s Wiley Farrer both leaving the course with the honor of hitting one.

“I don’t know that that’s ever happened here,” Director of Golf Bill Porter said of two golfers hitting a hole in one in the same weekend. “The odds are a really, really, long shot that that would happen.”

Farrer came to the course on Friday and left with a rare feat – a par four hole in one. On the second hole at The Links, his drive traveled the 343 feet from the tee marker to the hole and sunk down for the ace. According to the National hole in one Registry, Farrer used a driver and his witness was Josh Latimer.

“99.9% of hole-in-ones are going to be on par threes,” Porter said. “It's just a par four is not designed, in most cases, to be able to reach the green one shot.”

Porter credited the conditions being precise for Farrer to be able to hit the rare shot.

“There are those rare occasions where the conditions would allow a really long hitter to reach a par four in one shot,” Porter said. “It's downwind, and the fairways are firm and things like that.”

Escamilla’s shot came on Saturday, on the 12th hole at The Links. He watched his ball move down the green, growing in excitement as it bounced closer to the pin.

“As soon as I hit it, it looked really good,” Escamilla said. “And then I saw it bounce like two, three times and then it rolled up and I watched it disappear. I dropped the club and I just ran as fast as I could to make sure.”

As he ran down to the 12th hole in excitement, his friend followed along in the cart and recorded him on his phone as got closer.

“My buddy was following in the car behind me, and he videotaped it and I actually got the video,” Escamilla said. It's kind of pretty cool.”

The ace was hit with a seven iron, with Escamilla noting how through his experience playing at The Links helped him with his club selection.

“I play that course often, right?” Escamilla said. “So when I see the pin that's in the front, I'm like, ‘Okay, that's a seven iron,’ and that's an automatic thing because I'm so used to the different pin places there.”

Escamilla also tipped his cap to Farrer for his ace.

“I mean, I'm definitely not as cool as (Farrer) on Friday,” Escamilla said. “I mean, he aced a par four, like 343 feet. That's pretty damn good.”

The witness for Escamilla’s hole-in-one was Bobby Schwab.

“It was an expensive experience,” Escamilla said.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.