The masters has seen some incredible performances over the years, some of which we’ve already covered in this series; from Tiger’s legendary chip at the 16th hole in Augusta, to the 9 under par rounds of Nick Price and Greg Norman.
But with four days to go, we’re looking at a shot so rare that it’s only happened four times in Masters history: the albatross.
While it may not be quite as rare as the elusive condor, which has never been played any professional event, there are (almost) a full handful of players who can claim to have scored an Augusta albatross at the Masters.
Gene Sarazen was the first to achieve this rare shot, also known as the double eagle, during the final round of the Masters on the 18th of April 1935. Shooting 3 below par on the 15th hole lead to Sarazen tying with third round leader Craig Wood at the end of the fourth round, forcing the event to go to a playoff.
His shot from the 15th tee got him 235 yards from the tee, from which point he chipped it up onto the green where the ball slowly rolled into the hole.
Despite making this shot in the second year of its 87-year history, Sarazen is still the only golfer to have ever played an albatross and gone on to win in the same tournament.
More from the countdown series: the history of the green jacket.
The next two albatrosses came every 30 years or so, from Bruce Devlin in 1967 on the 8th and Jeff Maggert in 1994 on the 13th.
Maggert, like Sarazen, scored his albatross in the decisive fourth round of the tournament but it wasn’t enough to win against José María Olazábal, who won that year with a final score of 9 under par.
Winning was out of the question for Maggert, who was 19 above par when he took his swing at the 13th tee that day. His albatross helped save him from a truly disastrous four days and he finished the final round with a combined final score of 305.
Louis Oosthouzin scored the most recent Masters albatross in 2012 on the second hole. Oosthouzin very nearly won that year before losing to Bubba Waston on the par-4 second playoff hole.
All were a 2 on a par 5, and all apart from Bruce Devlin’s were in the final round.
This article is part of our Countdown to The Masters series. Join us every day between now and April 7 for fun facts and interesting stories about golf and The Masters tournament.