Two aces in same round power Parker Coody through U.S. Open local

Talk about a Texas two-step.

Longhorns senior Parker Coody notched a pair of holes-in-one in the same round Monday to advance through his U.S. Open local qualifier at Forest Creek Golf Club in Round Rock, Texas.

“That was nuts,” Coody told GolfChannel.com afterward. “A couple of the rules officials were giving me a hard time about it, like, ‘You’ve gotta buy your group a pair of shoes or something.'”

Coody started on the 10th hole and was 1 under through his first seven holes on a windy day north of Austin when he arrived at the 150-yard 17th hole. The hole before, the par-5 16th, Coody had 146 yards in with his second shot and blew it 30 feet over the green.

“The angle was pretty much the same, so I thought just hit it a touch softer and judge the wind right,” Coody said. “It lands a foot from the hole and goes in. I was pretty excited about that one.”

Coody turned and bogeyed the par-4 first before trading shots at Nos. 3 (birdie) and 5 (bogey).

“It was really windy and the greens were really slow and grainy, and I wasn’t really doing anything, so that was kind of frustrating,” Coody said. “Coming off 7, my 16th hole, I had just missed a 6-footer for birdie, which I felt like I needed, and I get up on 8, and I’m like, Well, I need to start making something. I needed to finish with a birdie or two because I  was 2 under, and I checked scores after 7 and saw that 2 under was in a big playoff right now.

“I just hit a good 7-iron, started it a little bit out right and let the wind just bring it in, and before I know it, it disappears. That was complete shock when it happened.”

Though Coody closed with bogey, his two aces powered him to a 3-under 69 and a second-place finish behind medalist Chandler Phillips (67). Former Texas player Taylor Funk was among three players who got through a playoff at 2 under. He was joined by Callum McNeill and Matthew Kemps.

Believe it or not, not only was it Coody’s first time making it through to U.S. Open sectionals, but it was not his first time stringing together a couple of aces in a short period of time. When he was in high school, he played a 27-hole day at Lakewood Country Club in Dallas and carded a hole-in-one on his final par-3 of the day.”

“This sounds crazy,” Coody said, “but the next par-3 I played the next morning with my brother and dad, different course, I did it again.

“And I thought that was wild.”