With golf balls finding the bottom of the cup at a record clip on Sunday at Kapalua, it was easy to overlook Taylor Pendrith’s landmark albatross. Though the Canadian finished T13, a whopping 13 strokes off winner Hideki Matsuyama’s all-time PGA Tour mark of -35, Pendrith’s big bird was notable for a host of reasons. For starters, it was the first albatross of 2025 on the PGA Tour. It was also, somewhat miraculously, the first albatross at The Sentry in the tournament’s 26 years of existence. More importantly, however, Pendrith’s 203-yard dart on the par-5 5th hole was the Canadian’s EIGHTH, as he explained after his round.

Albatross No. 8 for Taylor Pendrith 😳 https://t.co/jFd9iPeNDa pic.twitter.com/RnoM4ZlSBD

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 6, 2025

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That’s an awfully impressive number for a guy who ranked 68th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained/approach the green in 2024. Surprisingly, only one of Pendrith’s albatrosses—Sunday’s at Kapalua—have happened in tournament play, but they have been accompanied by three lifetime hole-in-ones. Not too shabby.

“I had a really good number and was just trying to hit a hard 6-iron and land it front third and let it chase back,” the defending CJ Cup Byron Nelson champ said of his highlight reel dart. “As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going to be really good. Didn’t expect it to go in. Didn’t see it go in, but the fans that were up by the green went crazy, so a really good bonus.”

We’ll see if the Pendrith’s hot shooting from the beyond the arc continues throughout the season. If so, expect a marked improvement on his career-best 14th-place finish in the 2024 FedEx Cup standings.

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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com