Golfer’s 6-iron nets a Mercedes at charity tournament

When Trent McGee goes to bended knee to give thanks for all his blessings, there will no doubt be a special tribute to the 6-iron shot of his life and a much-needed fortunate kick and roll atypical of Friday the 13th.

A week ago Friday, each of the Holy Family Catholic School Dad’s Club Tournament’s more than 100 players took a shot at Waterchase Golf Club’s par-3, No. 2. Any very lucky hacker who registered a longer-than-long-shot ace won a bright red Mercedes Benz CLA 250 on the hole sponsored by RLB Sales and Leasing in Fort Worth.

Well, McGee did the unthinkable, claiming the biggest prize of all the tournament’s bags of goody giveaways.

McGee picked the most ideal hole to record his first ace. The hole played at 187 yards downwind. The greens were running fast.

“I hit a solid shot, I heard a couple of people say it was going to come up short. I thought it was short, as well,” said McGee. “And it did land short. I saw one bounce and thought it would be close. I started to walk away and heard a couple of screams. The guy up there watching [each player] raised his hands. I didn’t actually see it go in, but I was notified pretty quick.

“I was in shock. It was a wild couple of minutes.”

Uploaded to social media immediately were pictures of the 31-year-old in the bright, red shiny car.

McGee, an employee at Lockheed Martin, beat the 12,500-to-1 odds against the average player scoring a hole-in-one.

Though not a professional golfer, McGee isn’t exactly average. The North Crowley High School graduate who played briefly at UT Tyler carries a 6 handicap. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UT Arlington.

In his group were his brother, Matt McGee, and friends Jeff Dempsey and Nick Taylor. The McGees’ father, Johnny, and their uncle, Jack Price, witnessed it also as the two groups playing back to back stacked up at the tee box.

McGee doesn’t have the car yet. He’s in the process of filling out all the paperwork, which includes affidavits from two in his group, as well as an observer who sat out there all day to verify possible holes-in-one.

The Dad’s Club picked up the more than $600 premium for the indemnity insurance, which pays to pay off the car.

“You see the car sitting there … don’t think anything of it,” McGee said, aptly noting that the tempting car sitting next to the tee box is generally nothing but bling for a hole sponsorship. “And you hit your shot and end up with a good shot like that that finds its way to the hole.

“It was a crazy, crazy few minutes.”

The next decision is what to do with the car. McGee, who on Monday celebrated his first wedding anniversary, has to pick up the tab on the tax and title on the car, which retails for $32,000 and up.

He and his wife could make someone a good offer and pocket the proceeds.

“We haven’t decided yet,” McGee said. “My wife … got a look at it. It’s going to be hard to give it away at this point.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Golfer’s 6-iron nets a Mercedes at charity tournament."