Jeff Post Memorial Hole-in-One Contest gets underway

Organizers and golfers talk strategy at the qualifying round of the 2021 Jeff Post Memorial Hole-in-One Contest Tuesday afternoon near Community National Bank in Nevada, where entrants can use clubs provided by the Nevada Griffons (or bring their own) to qualify for a chance to win $1 million by hitting an ace in the finals.

Photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

Whether you have shot six aces or none in your golf career, the 2021 Jeff Post Memorial Hole-in-One Contest is ready for area players to give their best shot.

After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event, organized by the Nevada Griffons and supported by more than 40 sponsors, is back for its second year and offering a top prize of $1 million to anyone who hits a hole-in-one at the finals on Sunday.

Here’s how it works:

The qualifying rounds take place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day of this week, Monday through Saturday, on a range located on East Austin between the car wash and Community National Bank.

Participants can buy one ball for $1, seven balls for $5, 15 balls for $10, or 40 balls for $20 to shoot from tees set up 105 yards away from a flag — with the 10 closest distances each day qualifying their shooters for the semifinals on Sunday (plus winning them other cash prizes).

Local golfer Mike Cragin swings for the "pin" 105 yards away during the qualifying round of the 2021 Jeff Post Memorial Hole-in-One Contest Tuesday afternoon. Cragin finished in the top 10 on both Monday and Tuesday — and said he plans to return the next four days — to qualify for the semifinals on Sunday.

Photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

Competitors may qualify more than once in the week, but only the top-three finishers at the semifinal round Saturday at Frank E. Peters Municipal Golf Course will advance to the finals later that day — when each competitor will get one shot on another 165-yard hole at the course. Various prizes await the finalists, such as a new set of graphite wedges, a 43-inch TV, and a laser rangefinder, but a hole-in-one will garner the grand prize of $1 million.

“You never know,” said local golfer Mike Cragin, who has made six hole-in-ones in his 55 years of playing golf and finished in third place at the qualifying round on Monday by landing a ball within 3 feet, 8 inches — and was back on the “course” on Tuesday to qualify once again by landing one within 2 feet, 9 inches.

Cragin, who opted to use his gap wedge on both days, said he intended to try and qualify for all six days to ensure as many chances as possible to advance beyond the semifinal round.

While the event attracts plenty of competitive golfers, many of whom get within five feet of the pin, it also draws casual players like Jerry Cox, who stopped by Tuesday on his way between mowing jobs.

“It’s for a good cause. I knew Jeff,” said Cox, who did not have his clubs with him, and so picked from one of the several used irons offered by the organizers.

Cox, whose son Cordell plays for the Nevada High School golf team, was one of several entrants on the day who whacked a bucket of balls toward the pin both to try and advance for a chance to win a million bucks and to raise money in honor of Jeff Post, a Nevada native who operated the Morrison-Post Insurance Agency with his family and served as a board member of the Griffons (among other organizations) before his death in 2019.

Local golfer Jerry Cox swings away Tuesday afternoon.

Photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

According to team board member Colleen Haberkorn, organizers have seen golfers of all skill levels and ages vying for their shot at the top prize — with plenty more expected as the week continues.

“You get people who come out here who have no idea how to play golf and give it a try,” she said. “We may even have some of the Griffons come out on their day off.”