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Published: Aug 28, 2008 11:20 AM
Modified: Aug 28, 2008 11:20 AM

Local pastor makes good on promise
Jessie Brock: "If I make this shot, I'll donate the car to the building fund of the church."
 
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FOUR OAKS - Those grand hole-in-one prizes many golf tournaments offer can bring big dreams from most golfers. Pastor Jessie Brock of Burnell Baptist Church in Four Oaks is no different from his fellow golfers on that account.

But when Brock teed up his ball on the par-3 17th hole earlier this month during the annual Member-Guest Tournament at Sandy Ridge Country Club in Dunn, he didn't see the car - a 2008 Buick Lucerne CXL valued at $31,625 - that anyone who made a hole-in-one saw, he saw another chance to aid his church's plans for its new Family Life Center.

As Brock, a 24-year veteran of the game, teed up his ball on the 175-yard hole, he told his playing partners, "If I make this shot, I'll donate that car to the building fund of the church."

One swing and one bounce later, Brock suddenly had the opportunity he'd hoped for on the tee.

"When it got to the front of the green, I thought it was a good shot," Brock said. "Then I started to say 'It's got a chance.' And before I could get the chance out it took one bounce and went right into the hole.

"So after that, I just shouted, 'It went in! It went in! It went in!' But I still needed to see it, so we rode up and that Titleist sitting in the bottom of the hole was a welcome site."

Brock was playing with tournament playing partner Dennis Norris and the team of Michael Bradley and Bonnie Byrd when he recorded the ace. Norris and Brock, who shot 69 on his own ball in the car-winning round, finished third in the championship flight of the event.

The ace was Brock's second at the club. He aced the fifth hole two years ago.

"When I got back to the clubhouse and word had gotten around, I started to get a lot of questions about what I was going to do," Brock said. "I told them I was going to do what I said I was going to do. "It's created a lot of buzz about the building fund."

Brock is working with Bleecker Buick and the American Hole-in-One Association to sell the car back to the dealership and turn it into a hefty check for the building fund. He said it would help push the church past its goal of $200,000 raised, thus allowing construction on the new building, which will sit atop the hill behind the current church building on Old School Road, to begin in the near future.

"I just feel like it's energized some people in the whole scheme of things," Brock said. "And it's generated some fresh excitement about our building plans and vision for Burnell Baptist Church.

"What's a blessing about it for me is it gives me a chance to be an example to others."

Herald Sports Editor D. Clay Best can be reached at 934-2176, Ext. 135, or by e-mail at clay.best@newsobserver.com
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