Sunday Shout: Simon O’Donnell on hitting two hole-in-ones in one round of golf

A casual golfer at best, cricket legend Simon O’Donnell’s expectations were for an enjoyable round with mates at Flinders Golf Club last week, before something truly remarkable happened.

Jon Anderson

6 min read

April 6, 2025 - 11:18AM

News Sport Network

Former Australian test cricketer, Simon O'Donnell had a hole-in-one on two separate holes earlier this week. That just never happens. Picture: Tony Gough

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Good enough to play off a handicap of 13, but a casual golfer at best, Simon O’Donnell’s expectations were for an enjoyable round with three mates at Flinders Golf Club last Tuesday.

Eighteen holes later O’Donnell, 62, had entered some form of golf record book when he had not one, but two holes in one in a feat the former International Cricketer of the Year is still coming to grips with.

The odds of two aces in the same round are 67 million-to-one, according to the National Hole-in-One registry in the US.

JA: Bloody hell, you don’t do things by halves?

SOD: I’ve never met anyone who goes to a golf course thinking they are going to have a hole in one, let alone two? It was surreal.

JA: What has the reaction been like from your mates?

SOD: Most point to the date, April 1, and claim it’s clearly an attempt by me at an April Fool’s joke.

Simon O'Donnell. Pictures: Emily Stuckey

JA: Take me through it?

SOD: The first was on the 252m par 4 that curls to the right. I thought my little fade had gone into a dam at the back, but my playing partner Martin Godby said when I hit: “That will be on the green.” While I was trying to find it another member of our group, my former St Kilda coach Tony Jewell, walked over to the hole and said: “The f … ing thing is in here!”

JA: Somewhat underwhelming. And the second?

SOD: The par 3 17th was an 8-iron that didn’t reach any great height and actually bounced its way up to the green. I couldn’t see that far but TJ again walked up to the hole and offered a heap of expletives.

JA: Couldn’t Tony have said something nice?

SOD: No (laughter). He’s been trying to forget me for 40 years because of the way I played football under him and now, which is a wonderful thought, he will think of me every time he picks up a golf club.

JA: How did you celebrate?

SOD: We had a few beers in the Flinders pub and made our way home.

JA: Had I been there I would have informed the rest of the drinkers, which under golf etiquette would require you to have shouted the bar.

SOD: That’s why I don’t invite you to play golf.

JA: Did you used to play with your cricket teammates?

Not a bad day out …

SOD: When Greg Chappell retired and became a selector, he asked me to share a round with him at Royal Melbourne. I was 3-up standing on the 16th when Greg told me he had played a pro-am with Greg Norman a week prior.

JA: Can I guess? He offered you some advice.

GC: Correct. Greg Chappell said Norman had pulled him aside and showed him how he should be using his hips as he drove the ball. Three holes later, when we were all square after the 18th and three straight duck-hooks from me. I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance to revive Greg because he was laughing so much, as he admitted he had never played golf with Greg Norman. He still laughs to this day.

JA: Do you follow golf?

SOD: Yes, because I love watching Min Woo Lee. Ricky Ponting is the best cricketer/golfer, a beautiful player. South Australia’s Wayne Phillips is a really good golfer. I played with another one who used to forget his score, but he will remain nameless.

THE LATEST ON ROWELL, ALLEN

While Gold Coast remains extremely confident of retaining the services of gun on-baller Matt Rowell beyond 2025, conspiracy theorists will point to a real estate transaction in a northeast Melbourne suburb during the week.

But before jumping to any conclusions, and while Rowell’s contract ends next year, the purchase was described as very much in the “investment property” category.

From all reports, West Coast co-captain Oscar Allen is a good young man despite his recent actions, which were naive at best and stupid at worst.

My query is where is he getting his advice from, or are we to believe the decision to meet with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was all of his own doing? I would suggest in future he surrounds himself with some better mentors, and if an opposition coach wants to meet you after round 3, tell him to get stuffed.

LONDON CALLING

Chicken parmas, Tim Tams and footy are on the menu this weekend as women’s football in London celebrates its 10-year anniversary.

The women’s competition in the Old Dart – which began in 2015, a year before the AFLW’s inception – started with 110 players and four teams and has grown to more than 400 players across 10 teams from seven clubs.

Four players from that inaugural year remain – Marianna Graham, Karli Smith, Jess Calum and Jen Bennett.

Smith, a South London Giant, said the growth of the competition had been a collegiate effort.

“Individually each club was trying to form a team but we knew for the league to succeed we all needed to grow together so we’d organise full league taster sessions to encourage players to the sport and find them their closest club,” she said.

“I think the nice thing at that time was, it was less about footy and more about this collective group of women building something great together.

“What I love and what’s kept me around is where the sport has taken me, we’ve played in France, Denmark, Sweden, Croatia, Iceland, and all over the UK.

“I’ve made lasting friendships that have spanned the globe and the Giants, well they’re family.

It’s incredible to see how both the league and the Giants have grown and changed over the past 10 years and huge part of that is down to the women’s league.”

Seven teams will gather on Sunday (London time) in Chiswick for a tournament to mark the decade, playing multiple matches of AFL 9s format on rugby pitches, complete with a food van providing Australian fare.

The men’s competition has 15 teams across three divisions with both leagues – which play the traditional format of Australian rules – running from April to August.

“Having a fantastic group of people to not only play footy with, but socialise and call life long friends is what community footy is all about,” Laurie Diiorio, women’s development officer of AFL London, said.

“The women’s game here has grown from strength to strength behind the passionate work of many people. it’s fantastic to showcase women’s footy with a tournament to kick off our 10th season of existence.”

SUPPORT FOR HARLEY

Giants key forward Jesse Hogan believes Harley Reid is burdened with “unfair” scrutiny as the pair prepare to battle it out at the Sydney Showground on Sunday.

Having experienced the intensity of being a footy player in Western Australia himself, Hogan knows all about the pressure of playing in Perth. But the reigning Coleman medallist believes the teenager deserves the space to find his feet in the AFL.

“You can’t open your phone without seeing Harley, to be honest,” Hogan said. “It’s probably pretty unfair. I think he’s still 19.

“I haven’t really got a whole lot of opinion on it. I think he gets dealt with pretty harshly, but we’ll have a plan for Harley this week.

“He’s not a player you take lightly. He’s going to be a star of the competition. He can probably win the game off his own boot.”

MOANA HOPE RETURNS

Ex-AFLW goalkicker and Australian Survivor contestant Moana Hope returned to the football field in brilliant fashion on Saturday for the first time since 2021.

Hope, who played with Collingwood and North Melbourne in the early editions of the AFLW, kicked seven goals for Essendon District Football League club Aberfeldie in the opening round of the league’s top-tier women’s competition.

The 37-year-old was among Aberfeldie’s best in her side’s 145-point win at Maribyrnong Park.

Hope last played for the St Kilda Sharks in the South Eastern Women’s competition in 2021.

Hope is 16 goals shy of the 700-goal milestone in her 182-game career across Melbourne.

Moana Hope playing for Aberfeldie. Picture: Tony Gough

A WINNING PUNTER

The Sunday Shout column has only been going a few weeks but we’re claiming a major win for a punter that had his TAB account funds stripped by a hacker.

The punter, a TAB VIP account holder, had $1700 stolen from his account after a winning day in late December last year.

Victoria Police investigated the matter as far as it could but the punter was less than impressed with TAB’s lack of response to his case.

But the punter was happy to report to Sunday Shout that he received an email from TAB advising he would receive a cheque to reimburse his stolen funds.

Who said the power of the press had gone?