GOLF / RICH TOSCHES : Duke Back on Course to Continue Reign as Queen of the Aces

Donna Duke, like nearly everyone else who has ventured onto a golf course, has not scored a hole-in-one for more than a year now. But for Duke, not scoring a hole-in-one for a year is as noteworthy as the directors of the Shoal Creek Country Club in Alabama not saying anything ridiculous for a year.

Duke, 59, of Camarillo, astounded the golfing world during a five-year period that began in 1984 by recording 28 holes-in-one, a remarkable achievement. The odds of any golfer scoring a hole-in-one during a round of golf are 8,000 to 1.

But, after her 28th ace on June 15, 1989, on the 131-yard, sixth hole at Los Robles Greens in Thousand Oaks, Duke’s good luck vanished. It was replaced by very dark clouds.

Late last year, physicians determined that Duke had cancer. An operation in September was followed by six months of intense chemotherapy. When the treatment had ended, Duke had lost all of her hair and nearly all of her strength. Golf was a distant memory.

Duke, however, apparently had not used up all of her good luck on golf courses. Today, the cancer is in remission. Her hair has grown back. Most of her strength has returned.

And . . .

“I rolled one by the cup today,� Duke said Tuesday. “Ninth hole, par-three, 134 yards at Sunset Hills. It stopped 12 inches from the hole. I thought it was going in.�

Donna Duke is back.

Her amazing streak of aces began Sept. 22, 1984, when she lofted a seven-iron shot 110 yards on the 17th hole at the Ojai Valley Inn and Country Club course. It was her first hole-in-one after playing the game for 14 years.

Her second ace came just two months later, on a 149-yard hole in Hawaii. Then, on Jan. 16, 1985, she notched her third, which also was the start of her most remarkable streak. In the 1985 calendar year, Duke recorded 14 holes-in-one. Her 12th of the year came July 26 at Clark Golf Course on the Point Mugu Naval Air Base and broke the standard for aces in a year, a record closely monitored by Golf Digest magazine.

But then a strange thing happened. Golf Digest editor Lois Haines, who had verified all of Duke’s other holes-in-one and officially listed them in the magazine, refused to believe the record-breaker. Haines said it would not be counted because--even though Duke’s three playing partners verified the ace--no one actually had seen the golf ball fall into the cup. Duke and her partners that day explained that the ace came on a hole with an elevated green, that no one could have seen the ball drop into the hole.

Haines would not budge, even though the U.S. Golf Assn. rule book makes no mention of seeing the ball drop into the cup, only that each ace be verified by playing partners.

“Maybe they think I have a trained pet gopher who is picking the ball up with his teeth and dropping it in the hole,� Duke said at the time.

She declined to submit subsequent aces to the magazine for verification.

In the years since, however, Duke has walked away from the battle with Golf Digest--at least a short distance away.

“I refuse to get upset anymore about that woman,� Duke said, referring to Haines. “I don’t care anymore. The woman isn’t even a golfer. I checked on that. She has some sort of a problem with what I have done, and I will not worry about that anymore. I know what I’ve done and my friends know what I’ve done. That’s enough for me.

“Getting my name in that woman’s little book? It’s just not important to me anymore. The holes-in-one or her magazine don’t put any money in my pocket.�

Quite the contrary. As is customary with aces, the golfer is obliged to buy drinks for the playing partners who witnessed the accomplishment.

“Each hole-in-one cost me between $30 and $50,� Duke said.

Now, after apparently scoring the most important ace of her life against a disease much tougher than any par-three hole, Duke is prepared to continue her parade of 1s.

On March 7, 1986, she recorded her 17th career ace on the eighth hole at River Ridge Golf Course in Oxnard. She used a three-wood to blast the ball nearly 200 yards into the cup.

Six weeks ago, she nearly did it again.

“It was No. 8 at River Ridge, and I knocked it right at the hole,� she said. “I really thought it was going in. It stopped a foot away.�

Donna Duke is definitely back.

Like brother, like sister: During the teen-age years siblings tend to, well, disagree on some things. But Mike Donnelly, 18, and his sister Lindy, 14, of Thousand Oaks have at least one thing in common: golf.

Mike, a four-year player for Thousand Oaks High, won the boys’ division of the Desert Junior Golf Assn. Invitational at The Vintage Club in Palm Springs on Tuesday, shooting a one-under-par 71 on the tough course to win by a whopping six strokes.

And Lindy, who will be a sophomore at Thousand Oaks in the fall, shot an 85 to tie Carrie Simons of Palm Desert for top honors in the girls’ 14-17 division.

It was not the first time the brother and sister had taken top honors in the same tournament.

“We did the same thing last summer at the Desert Classic Junior,� Lindy said.

Mike, who will enroll at College of the Desert in Palm Desert in the fall, and Lindy will try it again in three weeks. Both are entered in the Tournament of Champions Junior Invitational at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

“Maybe we can do it again,� Lindy said. “It would be nice.�

Qualified success: Mitch Voges of Simi Valley, Chris Zambri of Thousand Oaks and Bob Burns of Granada Hills have qualified for the U.S. Amateur golf championship at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver from Aug. 21-26 .

All three qualified for the prestigious event this week at Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley. Voges shot a 36-hole total of 144 and Zambri and Burns each finished with 146.