Standing on the ninth hole at the Marshfield Country Club about to hit his final tee shot as a member of the Marshfield High golf team in Massachusetts, Owen McCall looked at the green and was a little worried. It was Senior Day (Oct. 9) and parents had surrounded the hole to greet the players as they finished their round.
He didn’t need to worry as the tee shot ended up exactly where he wanted.
Right in the cup for a hole-in-one.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t go long because that’s where everyone was standing,” remembered McCall. “I was rethinking about using my nine iron at the last minute after seeing the person in front of me hit an eight iron, but I went with the nine. When I hit it I thought it might be a little thin and I remember saying ‘Get legs!’
“I couldn’t see the pin from where I was standing, but I heard it hit the green and then there was no noise for a second. Then I heard everyone yelling and screaming from down near the hole. I had kind of a delayed reaction because I couldn’t believe it went in the hole,” said McCall, who then immediately ran down to see for himself what had happened.
“It’s still hard to believe that I hit my first hole-in-one on my final high school shot. It’s a storybook ending.”
Making this even more of an unbelievable finish is there is actual video proof of it. McCall is a member of the Marshfield Student Broadcasting team and they were at the course getting video from the match against Hanover. They happened to be in the right place to catch the dramatic shot.
“It hit about five feet left of the hole and rolled straight in,” said Marshfield head coach Matt Murphy. “It was amazing to see. I saw a kid from Brockton High do it on the same hole about a decade ago.”
McCall is a four-year member of the golf team, the last two on the varsity squad.
“Owen was a great captain for us this year and just a really nice kid,” Murphy said. “He was great at bringing everyone together on the team.”
McCall was an alternate Wednesday as the Marshfield High golf team competed in the Division 1 South Sectional Tournament at Acushnet River Valley. The Rams placed sixth as a team with senior JD Ambrose leading the way with a 78, which was six over par.
“We did OK as a team. It was a windy day on the course so we had to contend with that,” said Murphy. “It’s not an easy course to play by any means.”
Justin Ford had an 82 for the round and fellow junior Gavin McDonough carded an 83. Junior Ben Berian finished with an 86, senior Max Albert had a 95 and junior Will Noyes shot a 97. Xaverian Brothers won the overall team championship.
“We had a great season,” said Murphy as the Rams finished with a match record of 12-4. “I’ll miss the seniors who are leaving the program, but I feel good about the talent we have coming back for next year.”
Email the reporter at dwolcott@wickedlocal.com and you can follow him on Twitter, @DavidWolcott1.