According to the Professional Golfers Association of America and the Eagle-Tribune newspaper of North Andover, Massachusetts, an Old Orchard Beach retiree shrugged off the pressure to sink a challenging 50-foot putt and win $10,000 recently.
Neil Olestrom, 73, was participating in the Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley’s Annual Golf Classic at the Black Swan Country Club in Georgetown, Massachusetts, when he entered a putting contest between the 9th and 10th holes, the Eagle-Tribune reported.
The PGA on Thursday carried the local newspaper’s story about the achievement on its national website.
To advance in the putting competition, golfers had to sink a 15-foot putt. Olestrom was one of 10 golfers to do so, according to the Eagle-Tribune.
Of those 10, the one to come closest on a subsequent 25-foot putt would be given the chance to try a 50 footer for the $10,000 prize. Olestrom’s putt rolled to a stop about 42 inches from the hole, the newspaper reported, and beat his closest challenger by one inch.
Then came the all-or-nothing 50 footer.
“I wasn’t nervous at all,” Olestrom told the Eagle-Tribune. “I don’t know why. I just looked at the putt, which was a little uphill and broke to the left. I went up, looked at the line … and hit it. I remember feeling really good after I hit it.
“It just disappeared into the hole,” he continued. “It didn’t really hit me until afterward, when everyone — about 40 to 50 people on the balcony — got all excited. I just said, ‘Hey, it went in the hole.’”
The Old Orchard Beach man, who retired about two decades ago, had played in the annual charity golf event four previous times. Olestrom regularly plays in the tournament with the same four-person group, which includes fellow Mainer Ron Wilcox, the Eagle-Tribune reported.
He plans to use his winnings to pay for a 2016 European cruise with his wife, Jane, the newspaper reported.
