Detroit — On Friday, 7-year-old Casimer Daniewski attended his first PGA Tour tournament.
Now, he’s going to think he gets a hole-in-one ball every time.
“He doesn’t know,” his father, the elder Casimer Daniewski, said with a laugh. “We’re all about Detroit sports, and we told him, ‘You’re never going to have a sporting experience like this ever again.”
Casimer was the lucky kid who went viral on social media during the second round of the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club, for not only being gifted Matt Kuchar’s ace golf ball. He also got to get it out of the hole for Kuchar.
Casimer, his dad and his mom, Andrea Daniewski, just happened to among only a smattering of fans standing around the par-3 fifth hole, when they decided to stop and watch a few guys take some shots.
One of those guys was Kuchar, the PGA Tour veteran with six career holes-in-one. Well, make that seven. His 9 iron from 165 landed short of the cup and rolled right in the hole. Aces are always magical. Then there’s what happened next.
Kuchar spotted Casimer, easy to spot with a freshly painted dragon tattoo on his face, and motioned him inside the ropes. Casimer shyly obliged a walk to the green, where Kuchar asked him to retrieve it from the hole. Afterward, Kuchar signed it, and Casimer bolted back toward his parents, outside the ropes, with a big, toothy smile and the souvenir of the Rocket — and by souvenir, we mean the experience as much as the ball.
WHOLESOME-IN-ONE 🥹👏
Matt Kuchar makes an ACE then brings a young fan inside the ropes to retrieve the ball pic.twitter.com/Wi9aCieYBa
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 31, 2026
“Right place, right time,” dad said. “He was in shock.”
“It was so cool!” mom said.
Even cooler, on the next hole, after teeing off on the par-4 sixth, Kuchar decided his autograph on the ball wasn’t enough. So he motioned Casimer back over, added a hole-in-one inscription and the hole number, did some introductions, and posed for photos.
Casimer didn’t know who Kuchar was before Friday. He’ll almost certainly never forget him now.
And that’s kind of the point of sports, if you ask Kuchar.
“It’s one of the cool things about our job,” said Kuchar, who, oh, by the way used that hole-in-one to help secure him making the cut at 4 under after a second-round after a 2-under 68. “It’s just a cool thing about the job as a professional golfer, to kind of make people’s day and sometimes make a fan for life.”
Kuchar’s seven ace is tied for the most on the PGA Tour since 2005, and he’s given away plenty of those balls. He said he doesn’t feel the need to keep a collection of golf balls around the house. He’s 48. He’s been a pro since 2000, and won his first of nine PGA Tour events in 2002. He’s got bigger trophies. To him, a golf ball’s just a golf ball. He gets them for free, dozens of Bridgestones every week. But to a kid like Casimer, a golf ball is a whole lot more.
Still, Kuchar never before had brought a kid inside the ropes to help him retrieve an ace ball.
The mood just struck him, and he figured his playing partners would get a kick out of it, too.
“It was fun for me,” said Kuchar, “just anytime you get a chance to make a kid’s day like that.”
The Daniewskis live in Detroit, in Sherwood Forest, not far from Detroit Golf Club, where they are new members. Young Casimer is in the junior program. It’s his first year. He loves it. He says he’s “pretty good.” He says he can beat mom and dad. He says he doesn’t have a hole-in-one yet, but, well, he’s got a hole-in-one ball.
“It was cool,” said young Casimer, wearing a Rocket Classic “Detroit Style” polo shirt decorated in hot dogs swinging golf clubs and driving cars. Was he nervous? “A little bit.”
The Daniewskis are big sports fans. They have Lions season-tickets, and they attend a lot of Red Wings games, too.
They got out to the course Friday just before noon and were “bopping around” the grounds, dad said. He’s impressed with the new kids’ activities at the Rocket this year, including the mini-golf holes spread throughout the course.
Their other two kids, Casimer’s younger sisters, were out earlier in the day, but they pooped out and left early.
“They’re going to be jealous,” said dad, “for sure.”
If not for the golf ball, then the TV time. Golf Channel showed the clip moments after the ace found the bottom of the cup, and it quickly made its way around social media. Mom’s phone was blowing up before they walked off the course.
While they hopped around the course earlier in the day, they stuck with Kuchar’s group until the end, cheering his good shots, and oohing some missed putts. They clapped as Kuchar walked off the par-3 ninth hole, his last of the day.
And then the Daniewskis walked off the course, too, young Casimer atop dad’s shoulders — and a guy named Matt Kuchar now atop their list of favorite athletes, now and forever.
Rocket Classic aces
- Ollie Schniederjans, 2019 (No. 5, second round)
- Ryan Armour, 2020 (No. 5, second round)
- Scott Brown, 2021 (No. 15, second round)
- Troy Merritt, 2021 (No. 11, third round)
- Mark Hubbard, 2022 (No. 11, first round)
- Rory Sabbatini, 2022 (No. 15, second round)
- Max Homa, 2023 (No. 15, fourth round)
- Nate Lashley, 2024 (No. 11, first round)
- Joe Highsmith, 2024 (No. 5, second round)
- Matt Kuchar, 2026 (No. 5, second round
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Meet the Detroit kid who got a souvenir of a lifetime from pro golfer
