AS IF holidaying in the Caribbean wasn’t good enough, a Scots golf fan scooped £25,000 by playing a hole in one.
Businessman Tommy Peebles was enjoying a family holiday in the tropical paradise of Trinidad when he decided to enter a competition – at “St Andrews Golf Course”.
The 56-year-old, from Broughty Ferry, Dundee, had to pay £260 to enter the four-day competition at the alternative Home of Golf in the Port of Spain suburb of Maraval.
Tommy admits he was “not playing that great” on the first day of the TT Open.
But the father-of-two is now enjoying his five minutes of fame on the island after overcoming 12,500-1 odds to hit a hole-in-one on the par three hole.
Tommy, who spent part of his childhood growing up on the island, collected his wife and daughter at the airport the same day and was able to give them the fantastic news.
Daughter Heather, 23, said: “He’s been out here for several weeks with my auntie and uncle who still live here.
“He wasn’t that happy with how he had been playing. He hadn’t been playing his best but as soon as he hit the shot he knew he had it.
“It went past the pin, then rolled back and trickled in. Apparently he was quiet for five seconds then he just erupted. He jumped on his partner’s back and actually hurt him.
“My auntie picked us up from the airport and we went straight there to celebrate. It was a great surprise.”
Heather added: “He’s been on the TV and radio over here, he’s Trinidadian celeb of the day,” she added.
“He’s loving his five minutes of fame but he’s having to pick up the bar tab everywhere he goes.
“Who cares how he plays now?”
The chances of an average golfer getting a hole-in-one stands at 12,500-1, compared to 2,500-1 for a professional golfer.
It is traditional for a player who has scored a hole-in-one to buy a round of drinks for everyone at the clubhouse bar.
