’s rarest bird made an appearance at Metropolitan yesterday as Matthew Giles etched his name into Australian tournament folklore.
Giles, the 2013 Victorian Open champ, launched an eight-iron downwind from 174m for his second shot into the 470m par-5 sixth hole – then watched in amazement as it dropped for an albatross.
It is just the eighth albatross in professional Australian events since 1985 – and it even brought a lump to the normally unflappable Giles’ throat.
“It’s my first one, so pretty exciting, yeah,” Giles said after he signed for a one-over-par 73.
“I’ve gone close a few times, but it’s not a bad hole, course and tournament to do it.
“We saw it drop, the pin was back left so we could see bottom of the hole, so it was good — a thrill actually.”
Giles said he actually caught his driver out of the heel, but with the wind strongly in his sails, it still hopped down to almost 300m.
“I got lucky off the tee and it just scooted by the left bunker. Then I just hit an eight-iron up in the air and it landed in the spot we were trying to hit it and it started to roll up and (playing partner) Josh Younger actually called it a few feet out and then it just dived in.”
Giles said the feeling was better than a hole-in-one – and he should know, having had nine of them.
And to add to the vibe around the group, fellow New South Welshman Rhein Gibson holed his bunker shot for eagle on the same hole.