Elsie McLean

I thought 90-year old Pierre Wynnobel was doing well to be riding his bike every day. (See my 4/7/07 posting.) And he is. But read this article that just came over the AP-Wire:

102-year-old California Woman Hits Hole-in-One
Sun Apr 8, 6:43 AM ET

CHICO, Calif. - Elsie McLean thought she might have lost her ball on the par-3, 100-yard fourth hole at Bidwell Park. Instead, the 102-year-old Chico woman became the oldest golfer ever to make a hole-in-one on a regulation course. Because of the slope of the green, McLean and her partners couldn't see where her ball landed after she teed off.

"Where's my ball?" McLean asked.

Her friends, Elizabeth Rake and Kathy Crowder, found it in the cup.

"I said, 'Oh, my Lord. It can't be true. It can't be true.' I was so excited. And the girls were absolutely overcome," McLean said.

It was McLean's first ace.

"Well everybody wants a hole-in-one, and I said, 'Why can't I have a hole-in-one?' I came within inches once," McLean told television station KNVN.

McLean, who used a driver, broke the age record of 101 set by Harold Stilson in 2001 at Deerfield Country Club in Florida.

McLean, who has been featured in golf magazines before, will appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on April 24 to celebrate her accomplishment.

"For an old lady," she said, "I still hit the ball pretty good."

Note: I love this woman's sense of humor! Being able to laugh--especially at oneself--is a trait shared by many successful late bloomers. As researchers at Loma Linda University in California have discovered, laughter not only reduces stress and stimulates the immune system, but also lowers dopamine levels. (Dopamine governs our "fight or flight response.") In other words, a good laugh can ease the anxiety of risk-taking. --pb