A shot worth $20,000

Yoshida Hideyaki couldn’t remember what he shot Saturday in the HANMI 5th Annual Charity Golf Tournament and couldn’t really care less if he won the A Flight or not.

And he has 20,000 reasons not to after the 23-year Saipan resident got Lady Luck to smile his way, making an improbable hole-in-one shot in the picturesque 7th hole of the tourney at the Coral Ocean Point Resort golf course.

Hideyaki’s solo drive netted him $20,000 in cold cash. The 112-yard hole from the white tee was sponsored by Shell Marianas.

I’ve been playing golf the past 31 years but this was the first time I hit a hole-in-one. When I shot it, perfect, but I didn’t believe it was a hole-in-one. My friend in front of us near the hole said ‘Hey, you hit a hole-in-one,’ so I was shaking,” said Hideyaki, who works for tour company HIS Saipan Inc.

“I thought the ball was long, because that was a very difficult situation (hole No. 7). In fact, some of the players in front of us shot it to the green only to have the ball roll out to the backside. So when I hit it, I was thinking [it was going to be] over. But I saw people looking at the play and they were celebrating… I just cannot believe it. I only believed it when I walked down there and saw the ball inside the hole and I said $20,000,” Hideyaki said.

Prior to Saturday’s HANMI event, Hideyaki’s closest brush with a hole-in-one came in the Tournament of Champions on Guam when his tee shot came within an inch of the cup. Yoshida also won the B Flight of the Johnny Walker Golf Tournament way back in 1989.

He said the $20,000 he won Saturday would come in handy because he is planning to go on vacation with his family in his wife’s native Philippines. Yoshida is married to Marjorie Yoshida and the couple has two kids, Ayaka and Masahide.

The people behind the HANMI Charity Golf Tournament couldn’t be happier for Hideyaki winning the $20,000 hole-in-one prize on the 7th hole.

Organizing committee co-chairman Ed Salas said even before the tournament started he already had an inkling that someone would walk away from the greens clutching one of the hole-in-one prizes.

“I really had a feeling. I really did. I told my members—the [organizing] committee members—that ‘listen guys I have this feeling that someone was going to win,’” he said.

He said he thought co-chair Michael von Siebenthal would hit a hole-in-one and even dissuaded the Hyatt Regency Saipan general manager from giving up his slot for someone else. Although, his bet didn’t win, Salas said just the same he knew someone would get lucky and congratulated Hideyaki for the one-hit wonder.

HANMI chairwoman Lynn Knight was also ecstatic over Yoshida’s conquest of the 7th hole.

“I’m just so thrilled we want people to win these big prizes. It’s wonderful in the tournament when people win big prizes. It’s very exciting. And it’s also nice that one of our partners in the tourism industry, who helps sponsor the tournament, is the winner,” she said.