Jack Nicklaus made his professional debut at the Los Angeles Open in 1962 at Rancho Park. Arnold Palmer made the 18th hole at Rancho famous a year earlier when he signed for a 12 after pumping four balls OB from the tee.
Enter Joel Okmin, who had his own way of making the par-5 closing hole at this venerable city course memorable. In the span of two months, Okmin made an albatross not once but twice on the 18th hole. Getting one in your lifetime is a rarity. Two? That’s something not even Okmin, a retired TV producer and writer, could have scripted.
The two big birds came on March 19 and May 21. Both times, Okmin drilled his drive and then had a shot from about 170 yards. Both times he used his trusty 7-iron.
“I never holed out, really, from more than 100 yards. I’ve had eagles but most of my eagles are from putting,” said Okmin.
If you’re starting to doubt this story, be assured that there were witnesses. Fellow Rancho Park Senior Golf Club member John Given was there for both, in fact.
“The first time he didn’t have [an angle], I had an angle where I was certain from the beginning it was one bounce and in,” he said. “The second time, you could tell that it bounced and was rolling towards the hole but until we got up to the hole, you couldn’t see anything.”
Those were the first albastrosses that Given had ever witnessed.
“I heard what the odds are for an albatross compared to a hole-in-one, and then to get two!” he said. “That’s some serious odds.”
Odds of a hole-in-one are generally accepted to be 12,000-to-1. Odds of an albatross are reportedly about a million-to-one.
As far as the albatross vs. double eagle debate, Okmin makes it clear which term he prefers.
“Double eagle doesn’t make sense to me,” he says. “Even though that’s the American version and it does sound sexier. If you think of a double eagle, an eagle is 2 under par and double that is 4 under par. So, it makes no sense. If you talk to non-golfers, they don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s way sexier to have a hole-in-one. They don’t understand that an albatross is much more difficult.”
Read the full article here