There have been some weird and wonderful prizes dished out for a hole-in-one down the seasons.
A flight into space, your weight in Spanish ham or a rather nifty Volvo compact excavator have all been up for grabs on the European Tour at some stage. Here at Wentworth, the bounty was a bit more run of the mill ... if you can call a brand spanking new BMW run of the mill. The beamers - one worth £60,000, the other £104,000 - were the rewards for an ace on the 10th and the 14th. Craig Lee managed this golfing feat for the first time in his European Tour career yesterday with a nicely flighted 8-iron. Unfortunately, that came on the second hole. And he got nowt. "Apart for a high five from my partners," he said with a smile. Or was it a grimace? To make matters worse for the Scot, he was standing on the eighth tee and watched Englishman Andrew Johnston ace the nearby 10th and burst into the kind of boisterous, shrieking celebration that only men who have won the keys to a ruddy BMW worth 60 grand can perform. A couple of years ago, Johnston also won 168 bottles of champagne for another ace during the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart. The Scottish scribblers thought it best to keep a little bit of hole-in-one history from Lee at this point. And no, we weren't going to remind him that one of our well-kent English colleagues, Derek Lawrenson, won a Lamborghini for his jammy thrash at an event in 1988.
Back in 1979, during the Suntory World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth, Japan's Isao Aoki aced the same second hole as Lee and won a house at Gleneagles worth £40,000, plus an extra £15,000 to spruce it up with various fixtures, fittings and finery.
The golfing gods can be a cruel old crowd and Lee must have been looking up at them and cursing. "Apart from the hole-in-one it was rubbish," said Lee, who opened his campaign over the West course with a three-over 75.
Having received the plaudits but no prizes, the Scottish press corps were going to have a whip round for Lee but could only muster 56 pence and couple of old hankies. We did give him a bottle of specially commissioned Ryder Cup red wine that we had received from the good folk at Mouton Cadet, though. Golf writers giving away a freebie? It'll never catch on.
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