What a moment: David D’Elia poses following his memorable hole-in-one at the weekend.
It is a striking pose that many cricketers in the Goulburn Valley have come to witness over the years, but at the weekend David D’Elia used it for a different reason.
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D’Elia was snapped with one finger raised and with golf ball in his right hand following a rare hole-in-one during his Saturday morning round at Shepparton Golf Club.
D’Elia scored an ace on the par 3 12th hole at his home club during the stableford competition — that he eventually went on to win on 40 points in A-grade men.
The former Cricket Shepparton president, current umpire and well-known cricketing figure ran through the experience of scoring his first hole-in-one.
“It took a while to sink in ... I was walking halfway down the 14th when I sort of realised ‘wow, that just happened’,” he said.
“I actually ended up using the same ball for the rest of the round funnily enough, it was a good thing I didn’t lose it.”
D’Elia, who plays off 10, said he “struck the ball well”, something his playing partners even highlighted.
His group consisted of multiple time Shepparton Golf Club champion Daniel Adem and Brett Mortison.
“I actually didn’t see the ball go in, there was a bright glare, but Daniel saw it bounce and said it was a good shot,” D’Elia said
“I walked up the hill and had a look around and couldn’t see the ball and then went to the back and looked around the bunker and Daniel asked ‘have you looked in the hole yet?’, but I was sort of reserved, I didn’t want to look.”
But the ball was in there, sitting all alone, around four foot from where it first made contact on the green.
That’s out: Cricket Shepparton icon Dave D'Elia with his trademark dismissal pose during last year’s Haisman Shield.
Photo by
Aydin Payne
And why the striking ‘‘umpire dismissal’’ pose?
“I copped a lot of flak for that,” D’Elia said with a laugh.
“I had Luke McPhillamy message me and say ‘you know, you don’t have to give people out in the off-season’ and even my granddaughter said ‘have you got proof?’.
“I think that photo is a good example of why you shouldn’t get a photo in the seconds following a hole-in-one, I have a look of dismay and disbelief all over me.”
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