A BLIND golfer from South Shields has become a history maker – after hitting a hole-in-one.
Peter Osborne, 46, is only the fifth blind golfer ever to achieve the feat.
His magic moment came in a golf tournament at the Balbirnie Park Golf Club at Glenrothes in Fife, Scotland.
Mr Osborne a former pupil at Harton Comprehensive School, sank the hole-in-one at the par-three 14th.
He was sure he’d hit a good shot, but his playing partners thought he’d struck his ball into a bunker.
Mr Osborne, who now lives in Carnforth, Lancashire, said: “Seeing no sign of the ball, we searched around.
“One of my playing partners checked the hole just in case, and my yellow Titleist golf ball was in there.”
Mr Osborne, whose parents live in Highfield Road, South Shields, is one of the top three blind golfers in the world.
He started losing his sight about seven years ago as a result of a rare genetic version of macular dystrophy.
John Murray, Mr Osborne’s guide and also a member of the Balbirnie club, said: “I’ve only been guiding the blind and vision-impaired players for a few years and I couldn’t be more pleased for Peter”.
“Although the ground was very wet underfoot, the course was bathed all day in glorious sunshine.”
Mr Osborne is a member of the Team Scotland squad which narrowly lost to England in the recent Auld Enemies Ryder Cup tournament, in which he won two of his three games.
He is hoping to play in forthcoming events in the US, Europe and Britain, the biggest being the disabled British Open, which is televised on Sky Sports.
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