A little luck never hurt anybody, especially on the golf course. We can all think of times when wayward shots actually turned out to be the highlight of our round due to a fortunate bounce or break. Even the pros can use a little luck sometimes. Here is our list of the 10 players who had a clover or two in their pocket.
Leif Olson
We get started with one of two billiards-style shots you’ll be lucky enough to see on this list. Whether Leif Olson plays pool or even snooker remains to be seen, but this shot makes it seem like he’s probably pretty good. His tee shot lands past the pin but he spins it back off the hill directly into his playing competitor’s ball. It then ricochets off of it, making a turn left turn (or right depending on which way you saw it from) and somehow manages to find the bottom of the cup for the unbelievable ace. He even won a new BMW for the effort.
Matt Kuchar
Good guy Matt Kuchar caught this crazy lucky break at the 2015 Fiji International. You know the saying “when it’s breezy swing easy?” Kuchar takes it one step further and doesn’t even swing at all. The wind grabbed hold of his ball on the green and blew it into the hole.
Darren Clarke
Former Ryder Cup Captain Darren Clarke got away with murder on this approach a few years back. His shot looked like the only place it was going to end up was in the water. The ball danced around a couple of cliff faces before nestling itself right on the edge of the playable surface. All he could do was smile.
Matt Jones
Australian Matt Jones became friendly with a ridge of rocks during the third round of the 2013 PGA Championship. His tee shot ricocheted off the rocks and shot his ball towards the pin, only to settle down on the fringe and slowly roll back even closer to the hole. The golf gods were looking down on him that day.
Rory gets lucky
It certainly seemed like Rory’s tee shot from a tournament in Dubai was headed straight for the water hazard. By sheer luck, he landed right on the cart bridge and popped up over to the other side where he had a wonderful lie for a recovery shot. Got to love those cart paths.
Fuzzy Zoeller
In this clip, we see golfer Fuzzy Zoeller strike a tee shot that looks less than impressive at first. It lands beyond even the fringe of the green and into the surrounding rough. It stays there for a while until it miraculously frees itself and rolls down the sloping green right into the cup. Just like he planned.
Oosthuizen’s Kiss
The first ricochet ace on this list was so good, let’s have another! During the 2016 Masters, Louis Oosthuizen hit his tee shot on the par-3 16th exactly how you draw it up using the slope to work his ball back toward the traditional Sunday hole location. You can’t make up what happens next.
Tree Clipper
Jason Kingston probably shook his head in agony when he saw where his tee shot was first headed at the Dunhill Championships in 2002. His ball crashed into the trees, but popped out onto the fringe. Almost like it was being pulled by a string, the ball darts for the cup and drops in for a crazy ace.
Fence Post
This shot takes us to the Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship in 2003. This fellow finds his ball snuggled up next to a fence post. Luckily enough for him, the post and his ball are right in line with the flagstick. Why not give it a hack and see what happens?
Vijay’s Skipped Ace at Augusta
Every year during a practice round of the Masters, players traditionally skip balls across the pond on 16 in a friendly “closest-to-the-pin” contest. A few years back, Vijay Singh stepped up and hit one of the luckiest shots of all time. Not only did the ball successfully make it to dry land, he holed it out. Hey, an ace in a practice round is still an ace!
