Guffaws were heard around the world last month when it was reported that North Korea's Dear Leader Kim Jong Il had scored 11 holes-in-one in a single round of golf.But Weekly Playboy (1/1-8), which calls the dumpy dictator a sporting superstar, reports the feat was even more remarkable because the Pyongyang Golf Club where the feat is supposed to have occurred only has a few short holes reachable with a single hit.
"He's incredible! Normally, 11 aces would be unthinkable. Normally, there are only four short holes on any course, so more than five holes-in-one is physically impossible. Nobody in the world has done something like this. I guess the Dear Leader has hit a ball that has been computer-controlled to fly into the holes. If he really has done it, he can buy me a drink. But I can't believe that beer-bellied old man could possibly do it," Kazuya Maruyama, a 60-something lawyer and fitness freak, tells Weekly Playboy. "Golf balls don't fly through the air like that. Besides, North Korea can't get its Taepodong missile guidance system right, so I don't think they'd be able to do something like that."