Bradenton boy snags hole-in-one ball at Masters

BRADENTON (FOX 13) - Just getting inside Augusta National would seem like a feat for anyone, but this weekend, 10-year old Bradenton boy Owen Lockaby got a front row seat.

"We peeked into 16 and all the seats were packed, but then the gallery guards asked me if I wanted to come to the front row to watch some golf," Owen recounted on Tuesday.

Shortly after he snagged his spot on the 16th hole Sunday afternoon, Matt Kuchar hit a hole-in-one right before his eyes. What happened next will be go down in the books for the Freedom Elementary School second grader: Kuchar signed and hand-delivered the hole-in-one ball to him.

"When he walked over to me I was just nervous, 'What is he doing?' And then when he handed me the ball! It was so loud that if he did say anything, I didn't hear it," Owen said.

His parents were in disbelief.

"We'll never forget it. We'll be forever grateful to Matt Kuchar for having the presence of mind to do that in such a pressure-packed situation," father Jay Lockaby said Tuesday.

Owen thinks his Sam Snead-style straw fedora caught Kuchar's attention. But whatever it was, the move is a moment this little boy will hold on to forever.

"It's really amazing and I really love it," Owen said, while clutching the golf ball.

Believe it or not, this was Owen's 9th trip to the Masters. His parents are patron pass holders. He gets in through the Masters junior pass program. His mom even made the trip when she was pregnant with him.