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3 holes-in-one registered at Snowmass Club during Challenge Aspen fundraiser

A rare sighting of an albatross and a couple of eagles were all the buzz Tuesday at the Snowmass Golf Club.

Not one but three holes-in-one — ranging from one on a par-4 for a teenager visiting his grandparents to a longtime Basalt resident who won a new car — capped a statistically crazy round in Snowmass for the Challenge Aspen fundraiser.

Bob Devan, 71, of Basalt and a member at the course, picked up a new ride from Glenwood Springs Subaru after he “pulled out a brand-new ball” and holed out a 3-wood on the uphill, 160-yard 17th hole, which has water along the front.



Not to be outdone, Jack O’Donnell was visiting from Boston and the 15-year-old hit a solid driver on the par-4 No. 9, which was playing 337 yards with a front pin. The ball stayed right of the lake, rolled downhill and “ran like a rabbit to the hole,” his dad said, and they scurried to the airport to make a flight home.

Nicki Cader was up from Colorado Springs and playing in the event for the first time. She holed out No. 6 from 115 yards. Cader has been playing “on and off for about 10 years, but this is my first one.”




It’s the second time in three years the Glenwood dealership has given away a car in a tournament, general manager/owner Carroll Winkler said. The dealership buys an insurance policy to cover the potential payout. Devan owns the car outright; it’s not just a two-year lease.

There’s never been one ace in the 14-year history of the Vince Gill and Amy Grant charity event for Challenge Aspen, and three in any one tournament is pretty unheard of. An ace happens once in every 3,500 rounds, according to the National Hole-In-One Registry.

The odds of two amateurs in a foursome making aces in a round are 1.3 million-to-1, according the National Hole-In-One Association, which provides golf tournament insurance policies. The association calculates an amateur golfer has 12,500-to-1 odds of making an ace on a par-3.

The three shots were a fitting end to the two-day charity event, which included a bidder at the gala Monday night spending $110,000 for a private concert with Gill and Grant.