Steve Gann
Sandra 1Whoa, Was That An Albatross?
June 30th 2009 04:52
:
Whoa, Was That An Albatross?
The term albatross refers to a score of three under par on any one hole. So it would be a score of 2 on a par 5 or a hole-in-one on a par 4.
It is said that the chances are at least one in a million with some experts going as high as 6 million to 1.
Compare that to a hole in one which is said to have odds of 13,000 to 1.
The difference is that a hole in one is possible on a par 3, generally the easiest holes on golf courses.
The practice of using birds as a scoring system began in the 1800s when the term "bird" meant anything excellent in popular American slang. So the term birdie became known as one under par.
From there eagle, or two under par, was incorporated into the game, as a bigger rarer bird or accomplishment.
So of course the natural evolution would then take us to albatross, one of the largest and rarest of birds to complete the scoring. Although some have taken to use the term double-eagle as three under par, the correct scoring is still considered albatross.
By the way Echenique's albatross was not enough to win the title as he would finish second to Nick Dougherty for the Open title.
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