Reed's amazing U.S. Open albatross isn't his favorite

Patrick Reed’s knack for missing his own miracles struck again at Oakmont during the first round of the 2025 U.S. Open where his latest albatross slipped into the cup unnoticed.

After a perfect drive of 322 yards, the 4Aces GC star made history on the 621-yard, par-5 fourth hole. Reed had 286 yards to the pin and pulled out his 3-wood. His approach into the green was struck beautifully and landed on the front of the green and rolled into the hole for a rare albatross.

Reed, blocked out in the fairway, didn’t see it go in. He peered toward the green, waiting for confirmation before breaking into a grin and tipping his cap to the roaring gallery.

After the round, the 2018 Masters champion reflected on his third career albatross, “The only one I saw was the one I decided to hit into the group in front of me. I didn't know I could get there. Yeah, no, so I didn't see two of the three.”

Reed’s albatross was the fourth in U.S. Open history. The first three belong to T.C. Chen at Oakland Hills in 1985, Shaun Micheel at Pebble Beach in 2010, and Nick Watney at Olympic Club in 2012.

Yet Reed didn’t rank the Oakmont albatross as his best. That honor goes to one from July of 2017, during the second round of the Porsche European Open at Green Eagle Golf Club in Hamburg, Germany.

“My best one was in Germany," Reed said. "It was in a rain delay on 15 in the middle of the fairway, had par-5, 15; par-5, 16; short par-3, 17; par-5, 18.”

The Germany albatross came after a rain delay, with Reed facing a stretch of scoring holes. His wife, Justine, urged him to attack while they waited overnight for play to resume.

“We had to come back the next morning and my wife goes, ‘You're in perfect position, you've got 4-iron into the green on a par-5, let's go attack this par-5, get 3-under right into your next round,’” he recalled.

The next morning didn’t exactly go according to plan. Reed made pars on the first two par 5s —but on the par-5 18th, his caddie, Kessler Karain, switched him to a cut 5-wood.

“Right into the hole,” Reed said.

Justine, back home, missed the details.

“Two hours later she was like, ‘Way to finish on the par 5's’. I was like, did you actually click on the scorecard? She's like, ‘No, I just saw you were 3-under.’ She clicked on it, and she was like, ‘You've got to be kidding me.’ Hey, she told me to get 3-under, she didn't tell me how to do it. Just got the job done.”

Reed’s second albatross came years earlier as a junior at The Dominion Country Club in San Antonio, Texas, on the par-5 ninth hole.

“I was on the right side of the fairway, some overhanging trees. I decided to hit driver off the deck,” he said. “The group in front was on the green, and this thing rolls up. They turn around, look at me, then start jumping because they watched the ball roll right past them and disappear.” That’s the one he saw—the only one of his three.

“I'd love to see it go in. It's always fun watching the ball disappear,” Reed added. “But as long as it goes in the hole, that's all I care about.”

The rest of the round didn’t go quite as well. He made five bogeys on the day and added a triple-bogey seven on the 18th hole to end his round with a three-over 73.