Those familiar with golf know the sport has its own unique vocabulary. You’ve got eagle, birdie, par, bogey (or the dreaded double, triple, quadruple, etc.), OB, ace, slice, duck hook, draw, fade, and so on and so forth. But perhaps the most rare term used in golf is albatross. And there’s certainly a reason for that.

For those unaware, an albatross is when a golfer scores three strokes under par on a given hole. Obviously, making an albatross, which is also known as a double eagle, on a par-3 is impossible, so one can only occur on a par-4 (holing out in one shot) or a par-5 (holing out in two shots).

What are the odds of making an albatross in golf?

And just how rare is an albatross? Think about this. The odds of making a hole-in-one are roughly 12,500 to 1. And the odds drop to 3,000 to 1 for a PGA Tour player.

As for an albatross, the odds are roughly six million to 1. That means you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than you do of holing out in two on a par-5.

Named after a large, rare seabird, the term first entered the golf lexicon in 1929 but wasn’t widely used until decades later. Even now, double eagle is more widely used than albatross. But whichever you prefer, both are correct.

Every albatross in major championship history

As we’d be here for quite a while going through every albatross ever made on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, the LPGA Tour, or any of the other big tours around the world, we’ll just stick to those made in major championships.

Men’s majors

You’ll notice the first on the men’s side was recorded at The Open Championship all the way back in 1870. What’s fun there is that the par-6 was still in play, meaning Young Tom Morris holed out in three for his albatross.

Player	Year	Tournament	Course	Round	Hole	Par/Score
Young Tom Morris	1870	The Open Championship	Prestwick	1	1	6/3
Gene Sarazen	1935	The Masters	Augusta National	4	15	5/2
Bruce Devlin	1967	The Masters	Augusta National	1	8	5/2
Johnny Miller	1972	The Open Championship	Muirfield	2	5	5/2
Bill Rogers	1983	The Open Championship	Royal Birkdale	1	17	5/2
T.C. Chen	1985	U.S. Open	Oakland Hills	1	2	5/2
Darrell Kestner	1993	PGA Championship	Inverness Club	1	13	5/2
Jeff Maggert	1994	The Masters	Augusta National	4	13	5/2
Per-Ulrik Johansson	1995	PGA Championship	Riviera CC	2	11	5/2
Manny Zerman	2000	The Open Championship	St. Andrews	2	5	5/2
Jeff Maggert	2001	The Open Championship	Royal Lytham	1	6	5/2
Greg Owen	2001	The Open Championship	Royal Lytham	3	11	5/2
Gary Evans	2004	The Open Championship	Royal Troon	1	4	5/2
Joey Sindelar	2006	PGA Championship	Medinah CC	3	5	5/2
Paul Lawrie	2009	The Open Championship	Turnberry	4	7	5/2
Shaun Micheel	2010	U.S. Open	Pebble Beach	4	6	5/2
Louis Oosthuizen	2012	The Masters	Augusta National	4	2	5/2
Nick Watney	2012	U.S. Open	Olympic Club	1	17	5/2

Women’s majors

On the women’s side of things, two double eagles were recorded in tournaments that later became major championships. Sandra Post made one during the 1978 du Maurier Classic, and Sophie Gustafson made one at the 1999 Women’s British Open. But as each albatross was made when those tourneys weren’t officially majors, we can’t include them on the official list. Still, they deserved recognition.

Player	Year	Tournament	Course	Round	Hole	Par/Score
Dawn Coe-Jones	1993	du Maurier Classic	London Hunt Club	1	4	5/2
Asa Gottmo	2002	Women’s British Open	Turnberry	4	7	5/2
Karen Stupples	2004	Women’s British Open	Sunningdale GC	4	2	5/2
Vikki Laing	2014	Women’s British Open	Royal Birkdale	2	17	5/2

And there you have it — every albatross in major championship history.