The rarest shot in golf isn’t a hole in one, although those are certainly fun. They happen fairly often, for golfer’s of all skill levels.
As soon as he hit it:
"Go in."@TronCarterNLU with his first ace! 8th hole, Timuquana Country Club. 8 iron from 140. pic.twitter.com/eGqpmWUhXq
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) May 13, 2018
Even I have one! (7 iron from 150, fwiw.)
But I don’t have a double eagle, or albatross. Those are incredibly rare, by some estimations a literal 1-in-1,000,000. It makes sense; to do it, you either need to make a hole-in-one on a par 4, which normally means holing a shot from 300+ yards, or you need a 2 on a par 5, which requires not only an excellent approach shot to the hole, but also a drive that gives you a chance to do it.
Reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka has made a return to leaderboards after taking time off with an injury , and today at The Players, Koepka pulled off that 1-in-1,000,000 on the par 5 16th:
The ol’ one-hop and dunk, for the fourth albatross in Players Championship history. (For the record that’s how I got my hole-in-one, too. Did I mention I have a hole-in-one?)
Koepka birdied the island green 17th as well, and finished with a course record-tying 63. It wasn’t nearly enough though, as Webb Simpson (himself having tied the course record on Friday) is dominating the week, and he’ll be the next Players champion barring a massive back-nine collapse.
But an albatross is still an albatross, and along with Tiger’s fun play today, it might end up being the most memorable thing about this final round.
