Cooke got his Fiji International campaign off with a bang acing the par-3 15th hole at Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course.
Starting the day on the back-9, Cooke never expected get a hole-in-one when he stepped onto the tee but things went better than expected when he hit his tee shot using his gap wedge.
“I’ve played this event for a few years…I knew the flag, knew the shot and knew the club so it was pretty comfortable,” Cooke said.
The ball landed on a little ridge and the glare of the sun meant Cooke had no clue that his round was to suddenly to get a huge kickalong.
“We sort of had to squint a bit and figured it must have spun back into the hole. That’s when we started jumping around,” Cooke said.
“It really kick started the round.”
To celebrate the achievement, Josefa S. Deve Wivou, Acting Manager – Niche Experiences at Tourism Fiji, presented Cooke with a bottle of Taittinger champagne thanks to tournament sponsor Victoria Wines.
An early tee time on Friday morning means that Cooke will have to wait until after the tournament to enjoy the champagne and hopes that it won’t just be the hole-in-one that he will be celebrating.
“I’ve got an early tee time coming up (8.05am Friday) so I won’t be opening it now…hopefully I’ll have something else to celebrate,” Cooke said of aiming for a big Sunday finish.
Even if winning the tournament isn’t to happen, finishing 10th is worth $30,000 at the rich tri-sanctioned $1.5 million event so the journeyman Pro has plenty to shoot for.
Asked how long it had been since he hit a hole-in-one, it took the Australian a while to remember when it happened.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve had one.”