New wheels for Whisenhunt after tournament hole-in-one

It takes skill to land the ball on the green, but it takes a little luck when you make a hole-in-one.

For McMinnville’s Phillip Whisenhunt it helped to have a little of both on his side Tuesday afternoon, when he struck the ball on the No. 17 tee at the Old Fort course in Murfreesboro.

Whisenhunt’s shot with his 6-iron found the bottom of the cup on the par three, 171-yard hole, which earned him a new car.

‘I thought it was real close to the pin,’ said Whisenhunt. ‘I saw one of the observers fall out of her chair and then I asked my teammates it went in. I didn’t even realize at the time I had won a new car.’

Whisenhunt and his teammates ‘ Brent Foster, Kenny Neal and Randy Fletcher ‘ were playing in the 19th Annual Chair of Finance Golf Tournament to benefit the Jack O. Weatherford Chair of Banking at Middle Tennessee State University.

The 2007 Chevrolet AVEO, sponsored by Mark Pirtle Chevrolet had 147 golfers taking aim at the hole-in-one prize. Whisenhunt’s team had one hole left to play and finished in fourth place with a team score of -14.

Whisenhunt traveled to Murfreesboro on Thursday to claim his prize, and said he isn’t sure what he plans on doing with the new car just yet.

‘I just bought a truck a few weeks ago and right now I’m thinking about selling the car,’ he said, noting the act of claiming his prize was a complicated process.

‘There was a lot of paperwork, to fill out and everything had to be official,’ he added. ‘They had to laser the distance and witnesses had to sign a statement. The whole thing has been very exciting. When I first realized I had made a hole-in-one, my teammates were running around and high-fiving me and everyone around. And then we figured out it was for a new car, it became a bigger celebration.’

This is Whisenhunt’s fourth hole-in-one, and he said when contacted Friday that he hoped it won’t be his last.

And as it turns out, he was right.

After Friday’s interview, the Southern Standard learned that Whisenhunt had recorded his fifth hole-in-one early Saturday morning, acing ‘Billy Goat Hill,’ the 17th hole at the McMinnville Country Club.