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An albatross is one of the most impressive feats you can achieve on the golf course, and most people will never come close to making one. However, Patrick Reed was able to check that box while shaving three strokes off of his score at the U.S. Open and may be responsible for the most subdued reaction someone who’s sunk one has ever had.
The vast majority of golfers view a hole-in-one as the holy grail of the sport’s accomplishments; it may “only” be the equivalent of an eagle, but there’s something special about only needing a single shot to complete a hole.
According to the PGA of America, the average golfer has a 1 in 12,500 chance of getting an ace, but that’s nothing compared to two other bird-related feats that make you a member of a pretty exclusive club.
As things currently stand, only four people have managed to record a verified “condor,” which is the name that’s almost exclusively used to describe a hole-in-one on a par 5 (although the most recent person to go four-under on a single hole did so at the par-6 18 at California’s Lake Chabot Golf Course in 2020).
That’s one step below an albatross (sometimes referred to as a “double eagle”), which can occur if you get a hole-in-one on a par-4 but stems from sinking the second shot on a par-5 in the vast majority of situations.
The odds of getting one of those are 1 in 6 million, and as of the start of this year’s U.S. Open, only three men had been able to record one during the major: T.C. Chen in 1985, Shaun Micheel in 2010, and Nick Watney in 2012 (although it’s worth noting that stat has only officially been tracked since 1983).
However, that number has risen to four courtesy of Patrick Reed, who got in on the action during the first round on Monday with the 286-yard approach shot he had after a 322-yard drive off the tee of the par-5 4th hole at Oakmont.
Reed was sitting at +1 when he swung only to see his score dip down to -2 a little more than ten seconds later after it landed on the green and right into the hole—a development he barely celebrated after seemingly confirming he’d earned the right to put a “2” down on his scorecard.
🚨 ALBATROSS ALERT 🚨@PReedGolf with a 2 on a par 5, just the 4th in U.S. Open history! pic.twitter.com/FNDFzWwlzT
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 12, 2025
It’s worth noting it was a blind shot from the fairway, so Reed may have been erring on the side of caution to avoid celebrating too much before confirming it went in with his own two eyes.
With that said, I can’t say I would have been able to exercise that amount of restraint.