At the US Open, Patrick Reed hits the rarest of shots — an albatross

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OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Patrick Reed made the third double-eagle of his career Thursday. He's still only seen one of them go in.

Reed raised his hands to the sky, wondering what happened when he unleashed a 3-wood from 286 yards in the fairway of the par-5 fourth hole at the U.S. Open.

It was a beauty. The ball bounced three times then rolled toward the hole and into the cup. The so-called albatross is considered the rarest shot in golf, with only a few hundred dropping a year, compared to more than 30,000 holes-in-one.

Reed said the best one he hit came at a tournament in Germany, when he came out in the morning to finish the last four holes after getting rained out the night before. He had two par 5s left and his wife, Justine, was urging him to attack those and get to 3 under.

He parred the first, then made double eagle to close.

“Two hours later, she was back at home and said, ‘Way to finish the par 5s,'” Reed said. "I said, 'Did you actually look at the scorecard?' She said, ‘No, I just saw you were at 3 under.’ She clicked on it, and just looked at me. Hey, she told me to get to 3 under, she didn't tell me how to do it.”

The only one Reed saw came at Dominion Country Club in San Antonio when he was a kid. He hit driver off the deck onto the green while the group in front of him was still putting.

“They turned around and looked at me, then they all started jumping because they watched the ball roll right past them and disappear,” Reed said. “I didn't know I could get there.”

This marks just the fourth albatross at the U.S. Open since the event started keeping such records in 1983. The 2018 Masters champion joins T.C. Chen (1985 at Oakland Hills), Shaun Micheel (2010 at Pebble Beach) and Nick Watney (2012 at Olympic).

Despite the 2 on No. 12, Reed finished at 3-over 73 after finishing with triple bogey on No. 18.

“I was doing pretty well there until that last hole,” Reed said.

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