GOLF: Bayliss bags an albatross (From Oxford Mail)

GOLF: Bayliss bags an albatross

6:33pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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Keith Bayliss pulled off the shot of a lifetime by bagging an albatross – after fearing his ball was lost.

Bayliss, who lives in Cowley, bagged the rare feat, whose odds could be as high as six million to one, in the Fairview Inn, Headington Society’s Tri-nations event at Cardigan, Wales.

Taking on the 500-yard par 5 ninth hole, Bayliss upstaged his playing partner Dave Green, who notched his first eagle, with the three-under-par salvo.

Green, who hit his second shot with a 3-wood from 220 yards to within three feet of the pin, said: “Most of the ninth hole is downhill and the wind was behind us, so we said to each other we should par this.

“We both hit good drives and Keith hit his second shot first.

“We thought it went somewhere near the green then we saw mine go near the hole. I knew I had a great chance of an eagle.

“We thought Keith must have gone through the back as we couldn’t see his ball. We were searching for it in the rough.

“Half-jokingly, Keith said it hasn’t gone in the hole has it?

“He checked and found it in there. We couldn’t believe it.

“It was amazing really when you think about it.”

Green is a member at Southfield and plays off 19, while Bayliss, who is known as Wacker, used to play at Hinksey Heights.

• ANDY Simpson drove in as Chipping Norton’s new captain then saw his side defeat president Graham Reynolds’s line-up 4½-½ in the annual match.

• OXFORD University drew 6-6 with the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Junior Elite squad at Witney Lakes in their final warm-up before the Varsity Match.

• WATERSTOCK and Carswell have joined the BB&O Golf Partnership’s Junior Academy programme.

They join Hadden Hill and Studley Wood, who have now have two academies, in the scheme to widen participation and help fast track promising players into the county set up.