Lee Trevino holed a $1 million shot in the Par-3 Shootout today, acing the
138-yard seventh hole in the two-day skins competition.
''I got my best hug in a long time,'' said Paul Azinger, one of four players
in the event at the Treetops course. ''It was a pretty special moment.''
The 61-year-old Trevino had just let a $40,000 skin slip away on the sixth
hole when he stepped up to the seventh tee.
The hole, nicknamed ''High Five,'' includes a 90-foot vertical drop that makes
club selection a bit tricky. Trevino decided on a pitching wedge, but thought
he'd hit it too hard. The ball sailed directly at the flag, landed pin high about
a foot onto the fringe and spun back, rolling 20 feet into the cup.
Spectators roared, hugged and high-fived one another as Trevino celebrated
with Azinger, Phil Mickelson and Raymond Floyd.
''The greens are, so soft I knew I had to go to the back or it would roll
right off the green,'' Trevino said. ''I thought I hit it a little long, but it
trickled back.''
The shot, Trevino's fifth hole-in-one in competition, was worth $500,000 to
Trevino and $500,000 to the St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis.
Trevino also won $10,000 for being closest to the pin on the hole and set
himself up for an $80,000 skin if he could ''validate'' it by winning or tying
the following hole, which he did. A 25-foot birdie putt on No. 8 secured the cash.
Trevino finished the day with $1,110,000 in earnings. Mickelson won $70,000,
Azinger $30,000 and Floyd $20,000. An additional $40,000 skin will carry over
to Tuesday's first hole.
Each hole is worth $20,000 with an additional $10,000 awarded for closest
to the pin. Every hole-in-one is worth $1 million.
