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Golfer emulates Fred Couples and beats his age

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Amateur golfer Graham Hoult has matched the extraordinary achievement of Fred Couples and beaten his age.

In October the 1992 Masters champion, aged 63, carded a remarkable 12 birdies in his final 14 holes to win the SAS Championship with a round of 60.

That rare feat has now been matched by Hoult, aged 72, who has carded a score of 71 at Oxford Golf Club.

Beating your age in golf is said to be the toughest challenge in the sport with less than one percent of golfers achieving it in their lifetime – which is said to equal a one in nine million chance.

But retired hairdresser Hoult shot one over par and got the drinks in for fellow members at the clubhouse to celebrate.

Graham Hoult

“It’s better than a hole-in-one,” he said.

“I was excited as it’s a hard thing to achieve in golf and you have to be a certain age to do it.

“The day before I had the chance to par the course and beat my age, but I dropped points on the 18th. It was so close and to manage it in my next round in bad weather was brilliant.

“It’s a special score and things like this don’t come around often in golf. One of my two golf partners on the day said ‘mate do you know what you’ve just done?’ I said ‘oh wow! Let’s go and ring the bell!’. It was a day I won’t forget, everything just clicked.”

Hoult has been a member of Oxford Golf Club since 1976.

“It’s a classic course and it always has good greens,” he said. “I love golf and it’s great for exercise.

“Now I’m retired I can play more regularly. I did have a handicap of five and when I retired, I thought it would get better with more practice. But it got worse and went up to between six and nine.

“My handicap index when I played the round was 6.6 which means my course handicap was seven. My car number plate is ‘G5 HCP’. I thought the G was for Graham, but everyone at the club said it was golf and five was my handicap at the time, so it stuck. So, when my handicap got worse everyone joked I’d need a new number plate. Finally, I’ve got it back to five!”

Steve Greenwood, Oxford Golf Club general manager, said: “This is one of the finest achievements in golf and Graham has rightly been the talk of the club. It’s something golfers dream of and we’re all thrilled for Graham.”