Schrage comes within six feet of $1 million hole-in-one at FCA fundraiser

BARRY, Ill. — Not many golfers get one swing for $1 million.

So when Tim Schrage hit his 6 iron from 177 yards and watched it sail toward the green at Bow Lake Golf Course on Saturday, he … um … well, let him describe it.

“I started puking a little bit,” he said with a laugh. 

Schrage’s shot during Saturday’s Million Dollar Golf Shot fundraiser for the Western Illinois chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes was online. However, it sailed about six feet past the pin. It trickled a little back to the hole and stopped.

It was the closest of 10 attempts by other players to earn $1 million.

“You heard the people behind you starting to, you know, murmuring,” said Schrage, who also serves as the men’s golf coach at Culver-Stockton College. “They’re saying, ‘Get in the hole. Get in the hole.’ It landed right over the top of the flag. It just didn’t have the backspin. When I saw it was online, I was definitely getting nervous. There aren’t too many times when you hit a golf shot for a million dollars. It was pretty exciting.”

Fifty-nine golfers qualified for Saturday’s event. They earned spots during preliminary rounds in June at golf courses in Winchester, Barry, Mount Sterling, Jacksonville and Quincy. Each of them took one shot at Bow Lake’s No. 2 green, which had 18 holes. Any golfer whose shot went in any of the holes would have won prizes worth between $10,000 and $40,000. However, no one aced the hole.

Each golfer also took one shot at the No. 3 green. The 10 golfers closest to the pin qualified for the $1 million shot.

Derek Jones, the head pro at Jacksonville Country Club, was the closest to the pin, coming within 12 feet, 3 inches of an ace. Qualifying for the million dollar shot were Schrage, Jody Carter, Trey Bourn, Bryce Kelly, Nick Robinson, Cole Williams, Alan Gallagher, Jeremy Byrd and Connor Wharton.

The other players who qualified for the event were Darin Gehrke, Brian Daniel. Torrey Bourn,  Marc Orris, Richard Fredrick, Larry Bork, Phil Coady, Bill Gibson, Corbin Tullis, David Hannel, Mike Byers, Jammey Huff, Noah Pickens, Derek Hoskins, Jordan Cawthon, Michael Kenady, C.J. Hayes, Jake McNulty, Nate Carlton, Kaleb Bradshaw, Keaton Baker, Robert McNulty, Peter Lister, Clint McNulty, Colby Hayes, Lance Pitchford, Mark Hoskins, Bob Pitchford, Tyler Harris, Alex Smith, David Floyd, Michael Robinson, Tom Watkins, Jared (Mike) Killion, Dan Burk, Trevor Anslyn, Alex Watson, Tad Gallagher, Dax Flowerree, Mitchell Housewright, Adam Hilgenbrink, Nick Wiskirchen, Ryan Bigelow, Kelly Davis, Caleb Hoffman, Brad Henry, Aaron St. Clair, Hunter St. Clair, Jalan Vance, Chad Flesner and David Gasko.

The golfers competed for approximately $1.7 million in prizes and money. 

“I thought that was a pretty cool, pretty neat little fundraiser,” Schrage said.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954. The Western Illinois FCA has 24 huddles during which student-athletes can share their feelings and needs while supporting each other. Contact Todd Sweatman at tsweatman@fca.org or 217-370-2008 for more information.