Freshman Rebecca Lederhausen has done as a freshman what only two other golfers have done in Northwestern’s history. At the Wildcats’ most recent tournament, Lederhausen hit a hole-in-one.
Lederhausen’s ace came on the fifth hole, a par-3, of the final round at the Central District Invitational in Parrish, Fla., on February 18-19. She used a 5-iron for the shot.
Lederhausen has played golf for as long as she can remember, and this is her first career official hole-in-one.
“I’ve hit one hole-in-one before, last year,” Lederhausen said. “But it was during a practice round. This was a much bigger deal because it was during a tournament.”
Lederhausen said she “actually saw [the shot], kind of,” because it was so accurate.
“Someone said, ‘Oh my gosh, go in,’ but people say that all the time for really good shots,” Lederhausen said. “But this time, someone said, ‘Um, it did go in.'”
It was also an exciting moment for the rest of the Cats, because it is rare for any golfer to hit a hole-in-one.
“My teammate Jen was in front of me and she was kind of by the green because she had just finished putting,” said Lederhausen. “She saw it and was like, ‘Oh my god!’ We were jumping around and high-fiving. One of the girls I was playing with said, ‘I’ve never seen a hole-in-one before!’ I mean, it doesn’t happen that often, so it was pretty exciting.”
While the hole-in-one brought Lederhausen’s score to 1-under par, she completed the round with a 5-over par 77. She placed 18th out of 75 golfers overall, a team-best finish for the Cats.
Lederhausen joins former NU golfers Meghan McCormick and Hana Kim as the third woman to shoot a hole-in-one while playing for NU.
Shooting a hole-in-one is a feat that golfers hope to attain at least once in their career. But Lederhausen, who has already achieved the feat at a young age, has dreams of an even rarer milestone.
“I hope so!” Lederhausen responded when asked if she thought she would ever hit another hole-in-one. “My dad has three and my grandfather has four, and I hopefully have many years of golf left to keep it up.”