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called practice. Now, with 16 aces in a row – Napoli was on hole 17 trying to decide if he should play
the shot that he had yet to make or play the untested multi-rail bank shot with wet carpet. After making
his decision, Napoli used the knowledge from his mentor, Ray Browning (1975 & 1980 National
Champion), and focused his attention on the present putt, not thinking about the past misses on the hole
or contemplating the future results if he made or missed the putt. Napoli put a solid stroke on Don
Ferrell’s shot, and the ball banked right rail with
precision speed, back rail, and gently rolled into the cup.
The crowd on the bleachers erupted and murmured with
excitement. One hole to play. Napoli thought about a tip
that Ray Miller gave him, which was “Think long, think
wrong.” Napoli quickly stepped up to the tee mat and Hole 17
addressed his ball before he could start thinking about
th
the moment. He quickly stroked the ball. Hole 18 was a typical 18 hole with an ascending hill of
about 4 feet, that starts about 10 feet from the tee mat. At the top of the ascension was a square surface.
th
The 18 hole is usually flat at the top, but the design on this hole had an 8-inch hill, about 4 feet wide
in the middle of the square, and the cup was located on the back of the hill. This type of hole would
normally not be a problem; however, with wet carpet and increased back spin coming off the back rail
– the ball would lose speed quickly. Also, the bounce of the ball coming off the hill towards the back
rail would increase the height of the bounce, causing the ball to bank off the top portion of the back rail
– negating the required force to get the ball back to the cup. Interestingly, all the other participants that
played the hole – never got the ball to reach the cup. Napoli’s
putt traversed the hill quickly after bouncing off the right rail
and careened off the back rail at the perfect angle. Instead of
hopping and hitting the top of the rail, his ball caught the
down slope of the hill and hit the bottom of the rail and sped
off the back rail with just enough speed to reach the cup
before the backspin could eliminate the momentum – and
found the bottom of the cup. The crowd cheered with
excitement and frenzy having witnessed history. Napoli
Hole 18
clutched his “Old Master” putter in astonishment. Having
been congratulated by the field, Napoli signed his score card and without much time to appreciate what
he just accomplished, he proceeded to walk to the first hole to start round two. Napoli aced hole 1 and
missed hole 2 by having the ball lip entirely around the hole – “the 360” – missing the world record of
the most aces in a row by one. He played the next few holes with less intensity after having
experienced an emotional high… and low. Fortunately, Ron Frederick quietly mentioned to Napoli that
he needed to regain his focus and step back into the moment – he still had the possibility of breaking
the world record of 66, held by Steve Lyon of North Carolina. Napoli finished round 2 with a
respectable 26 and closed the tournament with a solid 23…missing tying another world record by one
stroke. After reflecting on his accomplishment, John Napoli made the comment that there would be
more 18s shot. His prediction was right, but not nearly as many as he had envisioned, and not for
another 32 years – which places the accomplishments by Warren Morris and John Napoli at a higher
level of impressiveness. Twenty years later, in 1999, John Napoli would win the coveted National
Championship at Orange Lake, Florida. He currently resides in Daytona Beach, FL.