What is an albatross? Charley Hoffman makes PGA Tour's fourth double eagle of the season

Golf fans are used to seeing birdies and eagles in tournaments. On Sunday, they were treated to a more rare bird sighting.

Charley Hoffman, playing in his 485th PGA Tour event, carded a rare albatross in the fourth and final round of the Wyndham Championship. The double eagle on the par-5 15th hole dropped his score for the day down to 3 under — 11 under for the tournament — and helped him vault into the top 10.

🚨 ALBATROSS! 🚨@Hoffman_Charley makes a 2 on the 546-yard par-5 15th.

It's the first albatross in Hoffman's 30-year career on TOUR. pic.twitter.com/MsyZvTBStp

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 6, 2023

The veteran golfer began the hole with a 343-yard drive, then made his next shot from 198 yards out at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., sending the ball over the water and watching it roll slowly toward the hole before dropping in the cup.

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Hoffman had never before in his 30-year career tallied an albatross, which is one of the most difficult shots in the game to make. What exactly is an albatross, and how rare is it? Here's what you need to know.

What is an albatross?

An albatross is almost the rarest shot in golf. But it is certainly one of the most uncommon. 

Golfers can add an albatross to the scorecard when they shot three under par, making it one shot better than an eagle. It typically only happens when a player makes a hole-in-one on a par-4 or makes a par-5 in two shots.

Per the PGA, Bill Fields -- who writes a newsletter that is literally called "The Albatross" -- has listed the odds of scoring an albatross at 6 million-to-one. Former USGA handicap department senior director Dean Knuth shortened it to an a million-to-one chance.

"They're definitely far more rare than aces," Knuth told the PGA. "Someone has to hit two great shots. You have to have length and ability. Only a small percentage of golfers, less than 10 percent, ever reach a par 5 in two. That means 90 percent of golfers don't have a chance of making one."

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Rarest shots in golf

The albatross is only the second-rarest shot in golf. The rarest of all shots is called the condor, which is a shot that is four under par. 

According to the PGA, a condor has happened only five times in recorded history. It happened first in 1962, with Larry Bruce finishing the par-5, fifth hole at Hope Country Club in Arkansas in one shot, taking advantage of the dogleg, 48-yard course. Next came Dick Hogan in 1973, when he made a hole-in-one on the 456-yard eighth hole at the Piedmont Crescent Golf Course in North Carolina.

In 1995, Shaun Lynch took advantage of another dogleg par-5 at Teign Valley Golf Club in England, when he cut the corner and made the 496-yard, par-5 in one shot. The next was perhaps the most impressive, with Mike Crean hitting a hole-in-one off a drive on a 517-yard par-5 course at the Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in Denver in 2002. Crean did his without the benefit of a dogleg course.

The next two have both come within the past 15 years. Jack Bartlett, a 16-year-old Australian golfer, dropped in a hole-in-one at Royal Wentworth Falls Country Club in Australia in 2007. And most recently, Kevin Pon at the Lake Chabot Golf Course in Oakland tallied the only condor on a par-6 in PGA history, when he made the 667-yard 18th hole in two shots.

PGA Tour 2023 albatrosses

Hoffman tallied the fourth albatross of the 2023 PGA Tour season on Sunday. Here's a look at the other four:

Albatrosses in major tournaments

It's an impressive feat to make an albatross at all in a player's career. But several have added to that by scoring them during major tournaments. 

Here's a look at albatrosses made during each of the four major PGA Tour tournaments. All are two-shot on par-5 holes, unless otherwise noted.

Masters

U.S. Open

The Open Championship

* - Shot three on a par-6

PGA Championship