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Posted April 9, 2014, 3:51 pm
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Double eagles few at Masters

  • Article Photos
    Double eagles few at Masters
    Photos description
    Louis Oosthuizen walks to No.3 green after a double eagle on No. 2 during Sunday's final round of the 2012 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2012.
  • Article Photos
    Double eagles few at Masters
    Photos description
    Louis Oosthuizen celebrates with caddie Wynand Stander after his double eagle in the 2012 Masters.
  • Article Photos
    Double eagles few at Masters
    Photos description
    Louis Oosthuizen shows his ball after making a rare double eagle on the second hole during Sunday's final round of the 2012 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2012.
  • Article Photos
    Double eagles few at Masters
    Photos description
    Jeff Maggert talks with reporters about the rare double eagle he made during the 1994 Masters Tournament.
  • Article Photos
    Double eagles few at Masters
    Photos description
    Gene Sarazen's albatross on the par-5 15th hole in the 1935 Masters is known as the "shot heard 'round the world."

 

The rarest shot in golf – a double eagle – has occurred only four times in Masters Tour­­nament history.

A combination of skill and luck to make such a shot comes around only so often. For­tu­nately for the Masters, just such an occurrence came early at Augusta National Golf Club.

On the afternoon of April 7, 1935, Gene Sarazen was chasing clubhouse leader Craig Wood. Sarazen trailed by three shots with just four holes to play and needed a miraculous finish to catch Wood.

After a decent tee shot at the par-5 15th, Sarazen had 235 yards left. His 4-wood shot cleared the stream in front of the green, hit the bank and rolled into the cup for double eagle.

Sarazen parred the final three holes to force a 36-hole playoff, which he won the next day.

There’s little doubt that the Masters still would have gone on to bigger and better things without Sarazen’s “shot heard ’round the world.” But the shot gave the tournament an instant boost and laid the groundwork for the excitement that is produced each spring.

“There had never before been a shot in an important tournament as sensational as that double eagle, and one can understand how nearly everything else about that Mas­ters has been forgotten – Sara­zen’s three closing pars, for one thing, and the playoff, for another,” Herbert Warren Wind wrote in Following Through.

In the 75 Masters played since Sarazen’s double eagle, only three other albatrosses have been made. By comparison, there have been 24 holes-in-one during tournament play.

It took more than 30 years after Sarazen’s feat for another to be recorded. That came in the first round in 1967 by Aus­tralian Bruce Devlin, who called it a “perfect golf shot.”

“It hit on the front of the green, rolled right around the corner and went right in the hole,” said Devlin, who used a 4-wood from 248 yards on No. 8. “I could understand it if the flag was in the middle of the green, but it’s almost impossible to get a wedge up there.”

The third double eagle came in 1994 when Jeff Mag­gert’s 3-iron shot from 222 yards found the cup at the 13th.

“I was pretty lucky that it went in,” Maggert told reporters. “It was going pretty fast when it hit the pin. It hit the pin and went straight down in the cup.”

The last par-5 hole to yield a double eagle was No. 2, where South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen made one in the final round of the 2012 tournament.

Oosthuizen chased a 4-iron onto the green from 253 yards and watched in amazement as the ball rolled onto the green, then headed right and found the cup.

Of the four, only Sarazen was able to parlay his double eagle into a Masters victory, but Oosthuizen came close. He eventually lost a sudden-death playoff to Bubba Watson, who also was paired with him in the final round.

“Bubba said later he felt like running over and giving me a high-five,” Oosthuizen said. “I wish he had; that would have been fun.”

 

 
No. 2 Pink Dogwood
Par 5
575 yards
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No. 8 Yellow Jasmine
Par 5
570 yards
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No. 13 Azalea
Par 5
510 yards
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No. 15 Fire Thorn
Par 5
530 yards
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DOUBLE EAGLES

NO. 2 | PINK DOGWOOD | 575 YARDS

PLAYER YEAR ROUND CLUB YARDAGE

Louis Oosthuizen 2012 Final 4-iron 253 yards

 

NO. 8 | YELLOW JASMINE | 570 YARDS

PLAYER YEAR ROUND CLUB YARDAGE

Bruce Devlin 1967 First 4-wood 248 yards

NO. 13 | AZALEA | 510 YARDS

PLAYER YEAR ROUND CLUB YARDAGE

Jeff Maggert 1994 Final 3-iron 222 yards

 

NO. 15 | FIRETHORN | 530 YARDS

PLAYER YEAR ROUND CLUB YARDAGE

Gene Sarazen 1935 Final 4-wood 235 yards

Source: Augusta National Golf Club