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http://kesq.com/Global/category.asp?C=77242&nav=menu191_5
Larry Bohannan
The Desert Sun
May 24, 2007
RANCHO MIRAGE - The one thing Jacqueline Gagne lacked in her remarkable story of against-all-odds holes in one was some kind of wide-spread visual proof.
Until Tuesday, that is.
Gagne, whose 10 holes in one since January have become the stuff of golf myth and international media interest, hit an ace while the cameras were rolling. A cameraman from KESQ Channel 3 captured visual proof of her feat, relieving Gagne of a burden she has carried since news of her ace streak between Jan. 23 and May 2 made believers of some, and skeptics of many others.
"When ABC came out and I got it on tape, I really did feel like a weight had been lifted," Gagne said. "I had proven it."
That videotape got a lot of play Wednesday, appearing on ABC's Good Morning America and repeated throughout the day on CNN Headline News. While Gagne says the taped ace was a "God-send," officials at SilverRock Golf Resort in La Quinta are working to nail down witnesses for a recent Gagne claim of two more aces in a single round at that course some time in late April or early May.
"Management is still trying to verify the validity of the holes in one," said Randy Duncan, general manger and director of golf at SilverRock. Duncan said such verification is a standard practice for aces at SilverRock.
In an online comment section for a blog by Wall Street Journal writer Carl Bialik, who wrote a story last Friday about Gagne's aces, a John White, residence unknown, said "I was with her when we played Silver Rock (sic) in Southern CA about 3 weeks ago. She was playing with friends of hers and I was the 4th added to the group. She had back to back ACES in that round. Hole #8 and Hole #14. She signed my card I was so amazed!"
Even without official verification of the SilverRock aces, which would raise her total to 12 in 2007, Gagne has 10 witnessed and attested aces this year in regulation rounds of golf. In recent weeks Gagne has tried to keep a relatively low profile, talking to media around the world while shielding her friends and witnesses from a barrage of questions about her claims.
Gagne doesn't count the taped ace among her 10, since it came on her third swing on the par-3 eighth hole at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club. Another hole in one, when she said she was just playing the eighth hole at the Westin Mission Hills Resort near her home, also wasn't part of a legitimate round.
As Gagne's tale grows more incredible, so does international interest. Since an initial story in The Desert Sun on April 21 when the ace total was just eight, Gagne has been besieged by so many interview requests she's hired a public relations representative to cull through the phone calls and e-mails.
"(The public relations woman) is just to take control of who I should be talking to, just protecting me, protecting me against the weirdos," Gagne said.
The Wall Street Journal's article Friday estimated 10 aces at odds of 12 septillion to 1. Golf World magazine has a story on Gagne in this week's issue. She was interviewed by the London Times Wednesday morning, and today she was to start her day with a 2:30 a.m. visit from CBS television cameras for a satellite feed for "The Early Show" in New York. She is also scheduled for interviews with The Golf Channel and Fox television today.
Efforts continue to schedule appearances on "The Late Show with Dave Letterman" and "Ellen."
In the face of all the attention, Gagne says she has become sensitive to criticism accusing her of being a fraud.
"It was all fun at first, but now it gets a little crazy," said Gagne, who said that she never wanted the holes in one to be anything more than a golf story and she never wanted her friends and fellow club members to be subjected to questions.
The videotaped hole in one has made a difference, she said.
"Now anyone who was a skeptic can now clearly see the tape," she said.
The taped ace came Tuesday when KESQ-TV photographer Brian Kiley was doing a story on Gagne for the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles. After interviewing Gagne, Mission Hills membership services representative Brian Silver and Mike Mitchell, Gagne's teaching pro, Kiley was shooting some shots of Gagne putting.
"I said, you know what, people don't want to see you putting," Kiley said. "Let's go out to a hole."
Gagne and Kiley went to the par-3 eighth, but Kiley said Gagne suggested moving to the par-3 fifth hole, since the bunkers on the eighth hole were being renovated. Kiley preferred the angle of the sun on the eighth hole, so Gagne started hitting shots from the 148-yard tee.
"I was thinking, oh God, please let me at least get it on the green," Gagne said.
On Gagne's third shot, Kiley said he can be heard on the tape saying, "That's got a chance." Then Gagne screams that the ball went in the cup. The raw video shown across the country Wednesday doesn't clearly show the ball going in the hole, as Kiley was trying to zoom and focus from Gagne on the tee box to the pin 150 yards away.
"Honestly, we didn't know it was a hole in one until we went on the green," Kiley said.
Gagne hit four more shots before Kiley and Gagne went to the green, and Gagne began celebrating that the ball was in the hole. Kiley said they collected all seven balls Gagne hit, including the one in the cup.
At the Mission Hills clubhouse, Gagne said club members watched the video through the small view finder on Kiley's camera.
"I have to tell you, it's like an out-of-body experience," Gagne said. "I couldn't sleep last night."
Kiley said back at the television station, he was able to slow down the video and clean up the image a bit to where the ball can be seen bouncing once and dropping in the hole. Kiley said the reaction of his co-workers at KESQ ranged from "Let me see," to "You gotta be kidding."
The video ace might lead to more coverage from magazines, newspapers and television stations, or even endorsement deals for Gagne, who has only played golf for just over four years.
"Everything is possible," Gagne said.
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/SPORTS05/705240320/1032/sports05
http://kesq.com/Global/category.asp?C=77242&nav=menu191_5
Larry Bohannan
The Desert Sun
May 24, 2007
RANCHO MIRAGE - The one thing Jacqueline Gagne lacked in her remarkable story of against-all-odds holes in one was some kind of wide-spread visual proof.
Until Tuesday, that is.
Gagne, whose 10 holes in one since January have become the stuff of golf myth and international media interest, hit an ace while the cameras were rolling. A cameraman from KESQ Channel 3 captured visual proof of her feat, relieving Gagne of a burden she has carried since news of her ace streak between Jan. 23 and May 2 made believers of some, and skeptics of many others.
"When ABC came out and I got it on tape, I really did feel like a weight had been lifted," Gagne said. "I had proven it."
That videotape got a lot of play Wednesday, appearing on ABC's Good Morning America and repeated throughout the day on CNN Headline News. While Gagne says the taped ace was a "God-send," officials at SilverRock Golf Resort in La Quinta are working to nail down witnesses for a recent Gagne claim of two more aces in a single round at that course some time in late April or early May.
"Management is still trying to verify the validity of the holes in one," said Randy Duncan, general manger and director of golf at SilverRock. Duncan said such verification is a standard practice for aces at SilverRock.
In an online comment section for a blog by Wall Street Journal writer Carl Bialik, who wrote a story last Friday about Gagne's aces, a John White, residence unknown, said "I was with her when we played Silver Rock (sic) in Southern CA about 3 weeks ago. She was playing with friends of hers and I was the 4th added to the group. She had back to back ACES in that round. Hole #8 and Hole #14. She signed my card I was so amazed!"
Even without official verification of the SilverRock aces, which would raise her total to 12 in 2007, Gagne has 10 witnessed and attested aces this year in regulation rounds of golf. In recent weeks Gagne has tried to keep a relatively low profile, talking to media around the world while shielding her friends and witnesses from a barrage of questions about her claims.
Gagne doesn't count the taped ace among her 10, since it came on her third swing on the par-3 eighth hole at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club. Another hole in one, when she said she was just playing the eighth hole at the Westin Mission Hills Resort near her home, also wasn't part of a legitimate round.
As Gagne's tale grows more incredible, so does international interest. Since an initial story in The Desert Sun on April 21 when the ace total was just eight, Gagne has been besieged by so many interview requests she's hired a public relations representative to cull through the phone calls and e-mails.
"(The public relations woman) is just to take control of who I should be talking to, just protecting me, protecting me against the weirdos," Gagne said.
The Wall Street Journal's article Friday estimated 10 aces at odds of 12 septillion to 1. Golf World magazine has a story on Gagne in this week's issue. She was interviewed by the London Times Wednesday morning, and today she was to start her day with a 2:30 a.m. visit from CBS television cameras for a satellite feed for "The Early Show" in New York. She is also scheduled for interviews with The Golf Channel and Fox television today.
Efforts continue to schedule appearances on "The Late Show with Dave Letterman" and "Ellen."
In the face of all the attention, Gagne says she has become sensitive to criticism accusing her of being a fraud.
"It was all fun at first, but now it gets a little crazy," said Gagne, who said that she never wanted the holes in one to be anything more than a golf story and she never wanted her friends and fellow club members to be subjected to questions.
The videotaped hole in one has made a difference, she said.
"Now anyone who was a skeptic can now clearly see the tape," she said.
The taped ace came Tuesday when KESQ-TV photographer Brian Kiley was doing a story on Gagne for the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles. After interviewing Gagne, Mission Hills membership services representative Brian Silver and Mike Mitchell, Gagne's teaching pro, Kiley was shooting some shots of Gagne putting.
"I said, you know what, people don't want to see you putting," Kiley said. "Let's go out to a hole."
Gagne and Kiley went to the par-3 eighth, but Kiley said Gagne suggested moving to the par-3 fifth hole, since the bunkers on the eighth hole were being renovated. Kiley preferred the angle of the sun on the eighth hole, so Gagne started hitting shots from the 148-yard tee.
"I was thinking, oh God, please let me at least get it on the green," Gagne said.
On Gagne's third shot, Kiley said he can be heard on the tape saying, "That's got a chance." Then Gagne screams that the ball went in the cup. The raw video shown across the country Wednesday doesn't clearly show the ball going in the hole, as Kiley was trying to zoom and focus from Gagne on the tee box to the pin 150 yards away.
"Honestly, we didn't know it was a hole in one until we went on the green," Kiley said.
Gagne hit four more shots before Kiley and Gagne went to the green, and Gagne began celebrating that the ball was in the hole. Kiley said they collected all seven balls Gagne hit, including the one in the cup.
At the Mission Hills clubhouse, Gagne said club members watched the video through the small view finder on Kiley's camera.
"I have to tell you, it's like an out-of-body experience," Gagne said. "I couldn't sleep last night."
Kiley said back at the television station, he was able to slow down the video and clean up the image a bit to where the ball can be seen bouncing once and dropping in the hole. Kiley said the reaction of his co-workers at KESQ ranged from "Let me see," to "You gotta be kidding."
The video ace might lead to more coverage from magazines, newspapers and television stations, or even endorsement deals for Gagne, who has only played golf for just over four years.
"Everything is possible," Gagne said.
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/SPORTS05/705240320/1032/sports05