SHAUN Lynch, a 33-year-old recreational golfer, may have earned a spot

in the record books with a 496-yard hole-in-one.

He hit a No.3 iron off the tee on Monday at the par-5 dogleg

seventeenth hole at the Teign Valley Golf Club, near Exeter, in

southwest England.

Lynch cut the dogleg by driving over a 20-foot hedge. The shot bounced

down the steep fairway and rolled all the way into the cup.

''I had no idea where it had gone,'' Lynch said. ''It must have

bounced on the hard ground and run and run. At 6ft 2ins and 203 pounds I

can whack the ball a long way and obviously hit this one just right.''

Lynch assumed his ball was lost and even played a provisional second

tee shot. But the original ball was discovered by one of his two playing

partners when they reached the green and lifted the flag out of the

hole.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the previous longest

hole-in-one on a dogleg came in 1962 at the 480-yard fifth at the Hope

Country Club in Arkansas.