Two albatrosses at Lisburn as two golfers hit the ‘one in a million’ shot

Lisburn Junior Foursomes team Mark McNellis, Mark Armstrong, Craig Ryan and Christian Kennedy.

Ricky holed a seven iron second shot at the par five first on Saturday 20th July. One week later Bryan holed out with a three wood second shot at the eighth. Bryan had difficulty seeing the ball finish as he was playing into the sun. After searching round the green his playing partner Stephen Doherty suggested he look in the hole. To his surprise the ball was there.

According to Golf Digest the odds of achieving an albatross (three under par) at one hole is a million to one. For this to happen at Lisburn on successive weeks is phenomenal. Well done to both players.

After qualifying in second place Lisburn Junior foursomes team defeated Tandragee by two holes in the semi-final but lost to Bangor in the final.

Colin Smyth (18) recovered from an opening nine to win the Hanna Rose Bowl. He reached the turn in 47 but parred the next eight holes. A four at 18 gave him a back nine of 37 and a total of 43 points, one ahead of Ray Moffett (12) and William Brown (27). Both players finished with birdie twos.

An excellent round of 70 gave Gary Morrow (3) the best gross prize following two nines of 35.

Jonny Grant and Stuart Campbell topped the field in the Junior Scratch Cup. Despite sixes at the two par fives Stuart reached the turn in 35 but he came home in 38 to lose out on the back nine. Craig Ryan finished third with a round of 76.

Garth Moore (Lambeg) won the Intermediate trophy with Gerard McErlean second and James Burns third.

In the Ulster Under 13 championships at Knock, Lisburn had five representatives with Aaron Marshall finishing fifth with a round of 77. He won the best nett prize.

The Sam Rutherford team had a convincing win over Spa to reach the semi-final.

What is an albatross?

To the uninitiated, an albatross is a score of 3-under par on an individual hole. For example, making a “2” on a par-5 hole.

Scoring an albatross is one of the rarest feats in golf, far less common than a hole-in-one.

The term ‘albatross’ is most commonly used in the U.K., it can also be referred to as a ‘double eagle’.