History made on the popular Threetops Par 3 Course
Treetops Village, Mich., (July 3, 2006) – An amazing occurrence took place last week at Treetops Resort a couple days prior to the ING Par Shootout on June 26 and 27. The golf resort was buzzing, not only because PGA Tour players Fred Couples, Chris DiMarco, Craig Stadler and Andy North were on-site to compete in the ING Par-3 Shootout, an event that highlights a Million dollars for each and every ace that the players can muster, but also because an amateur golfer participating in the pro-am event dunked two holes-in-one in a five-hole stretch during a practice round!
Sanjay Kuttemperoor, of Naples, Fla., was playing with Treetops managing partner Rick Smith, the PGA Tour teaching guru who coached the likes of Phil Mickelson, Lee Janzen and Vijay Singh. Kuttemperoor, who said he doesn’t play much golf, had never made a hole-in-one before his visit to Treetops. After a few tips from Smith, Kuttemperoor made two aces in a matter of minutes on the Treetops Course’s fifth and ninth holes.
Lloyds of London, a company that supplies hole-in-one insurance, sets the odds of such an occurrence at 67,000,000 to 1. Based on those odds, a golfer would have to play a round of golf 365 days a year for 183,561 years in order to accomplish the feat.
Hole #5 where Sanjay recorded his first hole-in-one with an 8-iron.
Kuttemperoor, whose family owns V.K. Development, and is launching a master-planned community complete with a Tournament Players Course in Naples, Florida called Treviso Bay, was also playing with his father Vincent and a family friend, Bob Lanigan, on Saturday.
Kuttemperoor hit an 8-iron using a Callaway golf ball on the fifth hole.
"I hit a solid shot and didn’t see it go in the hole because the pin was right over a ridge," he told ESPN’s Charlie Rymer during an interview on Monday night’s Par-3 Shootout telecast. "Rick (Smith) looked at me and said, ‘I think that went in the hole!"’"I ran down the hill and my ball was in the hole," Kuttemperoor said. "I couldn’t believe it."
On the ninth hole, Kuttemperoor pulled out his 8-iron again, this time using a Titleist golf ball. He pushed his shot right and the ball hit a tree near the green. Smith told Kuttemperoor he thought he saw the ball headed toward the pin, but when they got up to the green, Kuttemperoor first looked in the rough for his ball.
"Sure enough, when I finally strolled to the green and looked in the hole, there it was," Kuttemperoor said.
"I’ve never seen anything like it in my whole life," said Smith, who was a television analyst during the broadcast. "It was amazing."
Kuttemperoor had never even birdied a hole before the aces. And, as he pointed out, he still hasn’t!
Hole #9 where Sanjay recorded his second hole-in-one with an 8-iron just 35 minutes later.
The Rick Smith-designed "Threetops" Course was named by Travel & Leisure Magazine as the number one par-3 course in the nation in their list of America’s Top 5 Par-3 Courses in December 2002. This award, coupled with GolfWeek’s previous ranking of Threetops as America’s best Par-3 Course, offers bragging rights to last a lifetime for any player. This unique course features holes that range from 135 to 216 yards with a 145-foot vertical drop on No. 3.
Treetops Resort boasts 81 holes of championship golf by designers Robert Trent Jones, Sr., Tom Fazio and Rick Smith. Treetops is a six-time recipient of Golf Magazine’s "Silver Medal Resort" award and is rated No. 32 in America’s Top 75 Golf Resorts by Golf Digest.
As a full-service four-season resort, Treetops offers 23 downhill ski runs, expanded tubing and terrain park, and snowboard half-pipe. Lodging at Treetops consists of 240 guest rooms including standard and deluxe rooms, suites and hospitality rooms and 2 and 3 bedroom condominiums. A 10,000 square foot convention center is available for conferences along with a variety of other meeting facilities. Rounding out the amenities are three restaurants, the Treetops Spa, a child development center, retail shops offering a variety of clothing and equipment, indoor and outdoor pools and much more.
For more information on Treetops Resort, please visit www.treetops.com.
Contact:
Kevin Frisch
(989) 614-0241
kevin@resortandgolf.com
Dave Richards
(248) 642-6420
dave@resortandgolf.com
