The Hawk

Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Sports

Ridgway's two aces couldn't be topped even by Master's champ Immelman.

It may not have been a memorable weekend for the Saint Joseph's golf team, but it certainly was a tournament that one team member will never forget.

Jim Ridgway, '11, was easily the story of the weekend for the Hawks, hitting two holes-in-one during the Princeton Tournament.

"After the first one went in, I was really excited and kind of shocked, that's the only way to describe it," said Ridgway. "Anytime you hit a shot from over 100 yards and it goes in the hole, it's just astonishment."

The rest of the tournament was far less memorable for the rest of the Hawks, who finished 15th out of 15 teams in the tournament, 39 strokes behind winner, St. John's University. Colin Corrigan, '08, was the best performer for the Hawks, finishing tied for 25th. Zach Smith, '10, was the next best finisher, tied for 44th, followed by Josh Webb, '11, tied for 51st.

But the story for the Hawks was Ridgway and his pair of aces. Coming into the day, he had only hit one hole-in-one in his entire competitive career at a tournament several summers ago. He hit his first hole-in-one in the first round on Saturday off a 193-yard tee shot. He followed that up later in the day in round two by knocking in a shot from 126 yards away.

The reaction from Ridgway, as one can expect, was one of utter shock and elation.

"After the first, I was really excited," said Ridgway. "After the second, I was just in awe. I didn't know what to do. To get one is such a rare occurrence; to get two, I thought it was some kind of fantasy. For some people to go 50 years without one and then me to get two in one day, it's just amazing."

After the somewhat lackluster team performance, Ridgway's feat was one of the few positives the Hawks could take away from the trip to Princeton.

"We struggled this weekend," said Ridgway. "For us to have a bad tournament really hurt our demeanor. We took this as pretty much the only good thing to come out of the weekend and it really raised our spirits after a bad week of golf. Hopefully, we can turn it around and play some good golf this week."

The Hawks' next tournament is on April 26 when they travel to Charlottesville for the University of Virginia's Cavalier Classic.

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