Elijah Ellis with his $10,000 cheque after winning the Hole in One Challenge at Lake Taupō. Photo: Supplied / Hole in One Challenge
An 11-year-old from Tauranga has become the youngest ever winner of the Hole in One Challenge at Lake Taupō, and is putting his $10,000 cash prize money towards a family vacation.
Elijah Ellis told First Up he was shocked when it went in, while everyone around him started jumping up and down in excitement.
11-year-old golfer celebrates $10k win with Taupo hole in one
It all started off as a pretty normal morning, with Elijah sharing a bucket of 50 balls with his dad, while his sister and mum watched on.
"About halfway through the bucket, I hit one, It was like a lowish type of fade in there and it just slam dunked! It landed right in, and I yelled 'It's in', but my mum and sister didn't see it because they were too busy chatting."
But Elijah's dad Tristan was watching.
He saw the shot fly off Elijah's eight iron, and says straight away it had eyes for the flag.
"When it was in the air, it was going, going and I thought 'this is gonna be close'."
Tristan's instincts were bang on, and the ball disappeared straight into the hole.
"You could hear the faint sound of it hitting the hole, and then it disappears. Then it's about a five or six second delay before it goes down the pipe and then it goes into the like this little black box at the front of the pontoon."
Elijah's older sister Tania confirmed she was chatting with her mum Sheree when the miracle shot landed.
"We all had the hope that one of them were gonna get it, but the chances of it were pretty slim.
"So we're off in our own little world and then all of a sudden we hear Elijah go 'Oh, it's in!'."
Tania was scepitcal, but not for long.
"We looked straight at the black box see if there was a ball going to come down and then. It did, and we all just started jumping around and screaming because he wasn't lying, he actually got it."
At just after 9am on a Monday morning, the Taupō lakefront turned into a frenzy.
"They were like the morning walkers and there was a crowd that had gathered, as they usually do, just to watch, and they all started celebrating with us, which was really nice and giving Elijah a pat on the back and all that kind of stuff. So it was pretty cool to have heaps of people around to witness it as well. "
Elijah was in town competing at the Bay of Plenty Age Group Golf Championships over the weekend, where he finished fourth.
He is now the youngest ever person to win the grand prize at Lake Taupō, and can not believe his luck.
"It still feels like a dream, I can't stop thinking about it. I can remember every single bit of it."
And Elijah has decided to share the $10,000 prize with his parents.
"They said for my birthday next year, we're we're gonna go to Australia. They were gonna save up for it and not spend a lot of money. So I decided we'll just use that money to go to Australia."
Tristan was taken aback.
"It's very special to watch your kids achieve something like that, and then to want to turn around and just give it back to the family, it's real nice."
As for the lucky golf ball...
"I've got it right now. It's Callaway Super Soft 1. Yeah, it's probably just gonna stay on top of my drawer on my room."
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