Statistically speaking, it’s unlikely Davis Thompson will ever have another round his Saturday 65 at the Wyndham Championship.
Not because 65 is a particularly unusual score for Thompson, who shot a Saturday 63 at the 3M Open just two weeks ago. But because of what happened inside that 65: A collection of not one but two of the more statistical anomalies in all of professional golf … in just one round.
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Let’s explain.
Thompson’s day in North Carolina started off slow. After four even par holes to start his Saturday, Thompson turned for the par-5 fifth hole knowing he needed to make some magic.
“Kind of got off to a slow start,” he said Saturday afternoon. “And then, you know, making an albatross usually helps get things going.”
Indeed, it does. And indeed it did for Thompson on Saturday, whose double-eagle two on the fifth hole was so unexpected he needed the ShotLink cameras just to capture it. (They did, delivering one of the funnier Jim Nantz highlight calls of the ’26 season.)
Thompson’s 186-yard approach rolled off a slope and straight into the bottom of the hole for the albatross — the so-called “rarest” play in golf, with odds of 5-million-to-one. Except it wasn’t all that rare for Thompson, who admitted afterward it was the second double-eagle of his young life.
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“Yeah, it’s my second one. Other one was at Bay Hill, not in a Tour round but it was in the Palmer Cup on No. 16,” Thompson, the apparent king of understatement, said. “I’ve had two pretty good ones.”
Unlike his last albatross, though, Thompson didn’t get too long to bask in the goodness of three shots made up on the field for too long. After three more birdies at the turn, a switch flipped in the wrong way down the back nine. He made a bogey on the 13th, then hit a very wayward drive on the 14th when he realized that something was wrong.
“Call the rules official over,” he called out almost immediately.
The rules official came, and before long, the official and Thompson had come to a determination: His driver was cracked.
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“I feel like I made a pretty good swing on 14 and it started going way right, so it’s not ideal,” Thompson said.
Thankfully, under Model Local Rule G-9, a cracked driver face can be replaced during a round, provided the damage occurred naturally during play and was not caused by abuse or anger. Thompson wasn’t happy with his broken club, but his anger hadn’t caused the break, so he was free to replace the club with a new one.
After the excitement was done, Thompson finished the rest of his round amicably, recording five straight pars to finish — including after the wayward tee shot on 14.
He’ll get a new driver in the bag on Sunday, where he enters in sixth place at 13 under, three shots off the lead set by Michael Brennan.
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It was a weird Saturday for Thompson, but there must be at least some comfort as he heads to bed with dreams of a Sunday victory at the Wyndham.
Sure, a win on Sunday would be one-of-a-kind, but it won’t be anything like his Saturday afternoon.
The post Pro scoops albatross, unusual rules break … in the same round! appeared first on Golf.
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