'Olympic Gold' Shopliffe "My First Ever Albatross"

American Express Sets Record on 5th Hole

‘Tokyo Olympic gold medalist’ Xander Schauffele (USA, photo) made an albatross.

On the 22nd (local time), Schauffele made an albatross on the 5th hole (par 5) of the final 4th round of the American Express (total prize money $8 million) of the 2022/2023 PGA Tour season held at PGA West Stadium Course (par 72, 7,187 yards) in La Quinta, California, USA, holing out in two shots.

Schauffele’s tee shot went 314 yards, and he hit his second shot with an iron toward the pin 225 yards ahead. The ball barely cleared the pond in front of the green and rolled about 10 meters into the hole. An albatross, which is three strokes under par, is a rare record even on the PGA Tour. Since official record keeping began in 1983, only 132 albatrosses have been recorded.

Schauffele, who has won seven times since joining the PGA Tour in 2016, made his first-ever albatross. The last albatross on the PGA Tour was recorded by Stephan Jaeger (Germany) at the 2nd hole (par 5) of the final 4th round of the John Deere Classic in June last year, seven months ago.

Schauffele showed flawless play with one albatross and seven birdies that day. He shot 10-under-par 62, rising 13 places from the previous day to tie for 3rd place (25-under-par 263). Thanks to the albatross, Schauffele earned a hefty prize of $472,000 (about 580 million KRW).