solitariness schist: Local golf notebook: Kozel gets second ace

By Tribune-Review

Published: Saturday, July 13, 2013, 5:33?p.m.
Updated 30 minutes ago

He made a hole-in-one while playing in the Constellation Senior Players Championship pro-am on June 26, and Rob Kozel couldn't have scripted it any better.

His son, Doran, was caddying for him that day at Fox Chapel Golf Club. Kenny Perry, who would go on to win the Champions Tour's major, was the pro in his group.

What Kozel couldn't have known after acing the sixth hole at Fox Chapel is that the feat would serve as a mere prelude to something about which most golfers can only dream.

Eight days after his first hole-in-one, Kozel made another ace ? and on a par-4 that played almost 350 yards.

This one came thousands of miles away on July 4, but it also happened in front of family. Kozel was playing with his father at Gozzmer Ranch Golf and Lake Club in Idaho where he belongs and owns a summer home.

Kozel, 50, is a good golfer who has a handicap of 6.6. But after playing the game for 25 years, the Fox Chapel resident had started to believe he would never achieve the golfing feat that requires a combination of skill and luck.

What are the odds that he would record two aces in eight days after going more than two decades without one?

?I'm living under a lucky star right now,? Kozel said with a laugh.

No one would have argued with Kozel, especially after his tee shot cut the corner on a 347-yard par-4 dogleg and found the bottom of the cup.

There is a water hazard less than 100 yards from the green on Gozzmer's sixth hole, and after he couldn't find his tee shot, Kozel took a drop and hit onto the green. What would have been a bogey five turned into a one on his scorecard after Kozel's girlfriend got to the green and announced, ?Hey, somebody left a ball in the hole.?

It was indeed that kind of golfing week for Kozel, who texted Fred Couples and Perry among others about his second ? and more improbable ? ace. Kozel is friends with Couples, and the latter stays with Kozel when he plays in the Senior Players Championship.

?The second (ace) was even more surprising,? Kozel said. ?I always thought it would just be nice to get (one) hole-in-one.?

Good track, better cause

The first Steel City Vets Classic still has room for teams, and the four-person scramble offers golfers a chance to help local veterans while playing one of the top public courses in Western Pennsylvania.

The outing will be held July 28 at Quicksilver Golf Club, a frequent host of U.S. Open qualifiers. The cost is $300 per team and $75 for individual golfers. That includes golf, prizes, a picnic-style lunch and an auction.

Proceeds from the event benefit Pittsburgh-area veterans, and event director Scott Reed is still soliciting teams/players, sponsors and prizes.

For more information, call 412-417-8779 or go to www.steelcityvets.com.

College golfer honored

Josh Stauffer became the first solo winner of the Frank Fuhrer III Award since 2009 last week.

The award is given by the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association to the area's outstanding collegiate golfer.

Stauffer shined as a freshman at St. Bonaventure. The Bradford resident notched three second-place finishes and won Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors three times.

Stauffer led the recent West Penn Amateur after two rounds before finishing fourth.

He is the first solo winner of the award since Mike Van Sickle, who has won the West Penn Open and Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational this summer. The award was shared by two players from 2010-2012.