Video: Nick Watney's First Round Double Eagle

It's just the third in U.S. Open history according to a USGA release.

Previously, T.C. Chen (on the 527-yard second hole in the first round at Oakland Hills C.C.’s South Course, in Birmingham, Mich., in 1985) and Shaun Micheel (on the 523-yard sixth hole in the fourth round at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links in 2010) had scored double eagles in the U.S. Open.

The USGA official video is here, and SB Nation has posted this embed without an IBM ad:

Comments

[tristan]

The term 'double eagle' is confusing, an eagle is -2 so a double eagle should be -4, thought he holed it on a par 5.... Maybe "albatros" is a good alternative, that's what they use to call it in england, wonder how 'double eagle" came to live,.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

Indeed tristan although we refer to it as an albatross throughout the rest of GB&I as well.

Altogether now ... albatross, albatross, albatross, albatross, albatross!

[Ludell Hogwaller]

Double eagle came about because British lit class taught us that an albatross hung round your neck was a bad thing.

Perhaps we should choose something neutral, like . . . Penguin.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

By all accounts, Coleridge was a miserable git. Had he played the game, he probably wouldn't have ended up giving the puir bird a bad name and we wouldn't be having this discussion!(lol)

[Jim Nugent]

We could call it "beagle" (birdie-eagle). Actually, double eagle has been part of the American golf vocabulary for as long as I can remember.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

@ Jim Nugent ...

Can't call it a beagle. That's a dog! Nice try though!

What surprises/confuses me is why americans would choose such an unspectacular description for what is a truly spectacular achievement.

[Bob]

Birdie, eagle, albatross, condor (4 under), ostrich (5 under). Yes, there are par-6 holes out there. They are about 900 yards from the back tees, so the likelihood of an ace is remote, but there is a word for it.