A double eagle is perhaps the rarest shot in golf, with an albatross much more difficult to come by than a hole-in-one. But thanks to Nick Watney, we have another double eagle at the season's second major. Louis Oosthuizen sunk the first albatross of the season, carding the first-ever two on Augusta National's second hole.
Watney pulled off the incredible feat at No. 17 during the opening round of the U.S. Open on Thursday. The young superstar and Northern California native ripped his second shot right up the center of the green, rolling it in the back-right cup with that dramatic shaved runoff lurking right behind. He went from 3-over to even-par with one swing of the club.
It's a short par-5 that was set up by the USGA's Mike Davis to create risk-reward excitement.
"We hope it's not only going to create options for the players, but some wild swings in scoring where we may see some eagles, birdies," Davis told the Golf Channel this week. "We also may see some bogeys or even worse."
I doubt Davis anticipated the albatross. It was just the third double eagle in U.S. Open history.
Video of the shot below:
You can find a full 2012 U.S. Open leaderboard at USOpen.com.
For all your news and updates in the run up to the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic, visit SB Nation's dedicated golf hub. Be sure to head over to USOpen.com for even more coverage from the event.
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