History has been made at Legend Golf & Safari Resort with former West Indies cricketer Franklyn Stephenson becoming the first person to birdie the longest par-three in golf – the now-famous Extreme 19th Hole.

Accompanied by a group of friends on a golfing holiday, organized by tour specialists Amazing SA, Stephenson took the helicopter to the top of Hanglip Mountain and faced up to the challenge that has made Legend Golf & Safari Resort, on the Big 5 Entabeni Safari Conservancy in Limpopo Province in South Africa, the talk of the international golf travel industry.

Having seen the Extreme 19th for the first time, Stephenson was just about at a loss for words, saying: “Ordinarily a quote tends to be a sentence or an extract thereof, but it would challenge the best to truly express the overwhelming extremity of the truly amazing experience of a group of friends' visit to the Extreme 19th .”

The hole itself measures approximately 400 metres, both horizontally and vertically and presents golfers with the task of attempting to hit an African-shaped green from the top of a mountain.

No easy task, although Stephenson showed nerves of steel in stepping up and smashing his very first ball onto the green, approximately 20 feet from the pin which was placed middle-right or in the Great Rift Valley.

Stephenson’s drive was no fluke as the former Barbados star has traded in his cricket whites, following retirement from the game in 1997, and taken up golf on a professional basis. He’s currently the resident professional at Sandy Lane Golf Club and Resort in Barbados, after putting behind him a first-class cricket career that saw him turn out for the likes of English counties Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire and Sussex, South African province Free State and, of course, Barbados.

Golf has been Stephenson’s game since retirement just over a decade ago, although the big all-rounder was probably drawing on the big-match temperament he cultivated over many years on the county cricket circuit, when he cast his eye over a 20-foot putt for birdie on the Extreme 19th. Reading the break to perfection, Stephenson’s putt never looked like missing and Sandy Lane’s resident professional was able to make history and celebrate the first ever two on the famous hole.

After his world first Stephenson said: “Having scored a hundred in each innings and taken 10 wickets in a first class match, been the only West Indian and the last man to do the English County Double (100 wickets and 1000 runs in a season) and been credited with the invention of the slower ball, it was easy to think that the record headlines had already been written. No. Room has to be made for the amazingly awesome achievement and mind-blowing experience of making a birdie-two on the Extreme 19th at Legend Golf & Safari Resort.”

The Extreme 19th Hole is just one of the many attractions at Legend Golf & Safari Resort, which also boasts the unique 18-hole signature golf course. The layout draws on the design skills of 18 of the world’s top golfers, including Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk. The course opened for play in March and is already one of the most talked about courses in Africa