KINBELAND GOLFER SINKS HIS EIGHTH HOLE-IN-ONE

For most golfers, what Harold Ellison accomplished at Kimbeland Country Club in Jackson last week would have been cause for a major celebration.

But forgive Ellison if he didn't get overly excited by his hole-in-one. After all, it was the 76-year-old Cape Girardeau resident's eighth hole-in-one during more than 40 years of playing golf.

"I've played with guys that play real well and haven't had any," said Ellison, who added with a laugh, "I guess I've just been lucky."

Ellison used a pitching wedge for his latest ace. Playing with Andy Perrin and Cliff West, Ellison holed out from 110 yards on No. 12.

"It looked good all the way up there," he said.

That shot was part of a 6-over-par round of 77 for Ellison, a Kimbeland member who said he plays five times a week when the weather allows.

Last week's hole-in-one was the first in Missouri for Ellison, who moved to Cape Girardeau only last December. Born in Oklahoma, Ellison and his family moved to Cape when he was three years old before his father's job transfer took them to Iowa. Ellison remained in Iowa until he retired and moved to Arkansas before recently deciding to return to Cape.

Ellison said his first hole-in-one came in Davenport, Iowa, in 1962, when he'd only been playing for a few years. He said his other aces were in Rock Island, Ill.; Muscatine, Iowa; Myrtle Beach, S.C., during a vacation; Malvern, Ark., where he got two; and Little Rock, Ark., where his most recent hole-in-one took place in 1998.

According to Ellison, his longest ace was his first one covering 226 yards and his shortest was last week's.

For a good part of his adult life, Ellison said he was an unlikely candidate to ever even pick up a golf club.

"I started playing when I was 35," he said. "A couple of friends of mine told me they were going to take me out and play golf. I said I don't think you will. I had never played and I didn't really want to start. But I went and I beat those guys the first day I played. I was hooked from that first day."

Of his overall skills as a golfer, Ellison said, "I used to be pretty good, about a 3 or 4 handicap. Now I'm about a 10 or 11 handicap. I normally shoot about 82 or 83."

Ellison is hopeful of getting lucky a few more times before he's through playing.

"My health is good and I want to keep playing as long as I can," he said. "You never know, but maybe I can get another one or two."