BOB WEST ON GOLF: Kane Segura scores mind-blowing albatross at Babe Zaharias Golf Course
Published 12:05 am Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Kane Segura of Groves authored the rarest of golf feats last Wednesday at Babe Zaharias — an albatross — and did it in such bizarre fashion he needs to send the video to the Golf Channel for what would surely be some head-shaking analysis.
Yes, there is video on what some call a double eagle, and we’ll get to it after setting the stage.
Segura, an 11-handicap, had just finished taking a triple bogey on the par-4 eighth. He arrived at the tee on the par-5 ninth fuming about the previous hole, then proceeded to slice his drive so badly it carried a water hazard and rolled to a stop on an upslope behind the No. 1 green.
Unsure whether he was considered in the hazard or out of bounds, Segura opted to play the ball anyway. This is where things start to get crazy.
With his rangefinder showing 220 yards to the pin, Segura belted a 3-wood that was so sweet he quickly whipped out his phone to get some video. Lo and behind the ball rolled into the hole. He didn’t see it drop but felt it was probably pretty close.
After not noticing the ball anywhere around the green, he immediately checked the cup and, of course, there it was.
It didn’t immediately dawn on Segura that he’d just recorded an albatross. Thinking he’d made a birdie because of probable penalty shots, he went in the clubhouse, explained what had happened and asked for a ruling.
There is no penalty, they told him. You were entitled to play your ball from where it had stopped. Oh, by the way, you just joined golf’s most exclusive club.
“This is really crazy,” said Segura. “I hit the drive so far right I had to wait on two seniors playing No. 1 before I could hit my second shot. I started the video as a joke for my buddies. I never dreamed the ball would go in the hole.”
Segura, who has never bagged a hole in one, made his first phone call to his dad after the albatross was confirmed. Upon completing the round — a 40-46—86, he posted on Facebook and put the video on snapchat.
Witnesses to the albatross were Alan Gaspard, David St. Clair and Cole Johnson. Surely they will never tire of telling about the time they saw a guy play the eighth and ninth holes in even par, despite a triple bogey being in the mix.
So exactly how rare is an albatross? The odds are best put in perspective by comparing them to the 12,000-to-one hole-in-one odds. For an albatross, the odds soar to 6 million to 1.
In the history of pro golf’s major championships, a mere 18 have been recorded. There have been four in the Masters, three in the U.S. Open, eight at the British Open and three in the PGA Championship.
Nick Watney scored the last albatross in a major on June 14, 2012, on the 17th hole in the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco.