PGA Pro shoots golf balls from hotel roof
Some stories just catch your eye and this one caight mine. Decent PGA Pro Brinny Baird has earned everyone in America a chicken lettuce wrap and $25,000 for charity by hitting golf balls off the roof of the Omni-Hotel in San Diego.
To win the prize, the pro had to hit the balls from 375 feet in the air into a large bullseye located in the Petco Park Baseball Stadium below, the home of the San Diego Padres. Pro or not, that’s some shot!
The elevated super-tee sat on the 34th floor of the hotel above L Street with the flag some 268 yards away. The pro had just ten attempts to hit the bullseye, which was split into three scoring zones. If Brinny hit the centre ring of the bull with any of his 10 attempts, Americans would receive the free wrap (with a starter order) and the charity (San Diego Navy/Marine Corps Relief Society) would recieve $2,000 per ball. The next ring out would earn the charity $1,000 and the final, outer ring would earn $500.
Not much pressure then…
Brinny practiced with the San Diego Padres General Manager Kevin Towers who stuck a couple of shots within a few feet of the cup with a 9 iron – (yes, that’s a 270 yard 9-iron). Towers was apparently pretty shocked when Baird stepped up to the tee with a 5-iron in his hands saying, “I told him, ‘5-iron? Dude, you hit a 5, you’re going to put it into the condos!”
Baird fortunately took Towers’ advice or perhaps we might be reporting a different kind of story…
Out of ten attempts, Baird hit the centre bull twice and scored on eight of ten shots. He earned the charity a fantastic $17,500 which the restaurant chain boosted to $25,000…oh, and the wraps of course.
I think it’s an awesome idea that we could employ here in England. Off the top of Millbank tower onto a floating green on the Thames? Sweet. It took 15 seconds for the ball to hit the ground in San Diego – sounds like a record that needs beating to me…
No video? :)
No I can’t find one, looked everywhere. It would’ve been a cool video too!