Christian Emmerich and Owen Egan can lay claim to one of the most improbable feats in golf. And if there weren’t picture evidence, most folks probably wouldn’t believe their claim.
The duo, Emmerich a senior and Egan a sophomore, play on the Holy Cross men’s golf team, and they were playing a qualifying round Sunday ahead of the team’s season-opening event at the Ryan T. Lee Memorial Collegiate in Kensington, Connecticut. They stepped to the tee of the par-5 eighth hole at Blackstone National Golf Club in Sutton, Massachusetts, not knowing what was about to come. It measured 494 yards from the tees they were playing, and they took an aggressive approach off the tee.
Emmerich’s tee shot settled about 160 yards from the hole, and Egan’s was a bit closer coming in at 125 yards out after going up and over the trees on the dogleg right hole.
Emmerich hit his approach shot first, an 8-iron. It went in the hole.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he told Golfweek.
He and Egan, along with their third playing partner, started celebrating. Then Egan stepped up to his shot.
“I was honestly still shaking from seeing his go in,” Egan said.
Then his 50 degree wedge one-hopped off the rough and rolled onto the green and into the hole.
Two albatrosses. Same hole. Same group.
During a practice round yesterday, Owen Egan and Christian Emmerich BOTH recorded an albatross on the eighth hole 👀👀#GoCrossGo pic.twitter.com/94PuHZaqxj
— Holy Cross Men’s Golf (@HCrossMGolf) September 5, 2022
The odds are better to be struck by lightning than make an albatross, according to the PGA of America.
Holy Cross coach Steve Napoli said he believes alums Willie Turnesa, 1938 graduate who won the 1938 U.S. Amateur, and Paul Harney, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, were both looking down on Emmerich’s and Egan’s shots.
“I have no doubt about it,” Napoli said.
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