Golfers to take a swing at $1m hole-in-one prize

IT WILL involve a long shot, but a Scottish golf club is offering a $1 million (£656,400) prize for the player who can score a hole-in-one on their course.

The first golfer who can put the ball in the hole in a single shot from here on the 14th hole will walk away with 1m dollars. Picture: Clive Barber

Golfers who play Machrihanish Dunes in Kintyre over the next two and a half months will go into a draw, out of which four people will be selected to have a go on 26 October to hole out at the 167-yard par-3 14th hole, considered to be one of the best of its type in the UK.

Each finalist must be an amateur golfer and will have only one shot to attempt an ace.

A successful and verified hole-in-one will land the golfer the prize.

Though not insurmountable, the odds for an amateur hitting the target are a formidable 25,000-1. Even for a professional attempting the shot, the odds are 2,500-1.

“With the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart, and the Open Championship at Muirfield, we wanted to add some excitement for the leisure and amateur golfer,” said David Southworth, president and CEO of Southworth Development, owner of Machrihanish Dunes. “With Scotland having such a rich history in the sport, it will be fun to offer a potentially richer future for some lucky golfers.”

The US-owned course opened in 2009 on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Argyll, the first course to be built on such a site and also the first to be built on the west coast of Scotland in more than 100 years.

It has since won awards for its environmental achievements, and was named the most ecologically friendly course in the world by ABTA Golf magazine in 2012.