rare;bird
lifts;watney

it didn’t quite match gene sarazen’s for drama or consequence, but nick watney’s double eagle was like every one ever made—spectacular. after making an aggravating bogey on the olympic club’s first par 5 at the 16th, watney hit a big drive on the 522-yard 17th that stayed on the steeply slanted fairway. from there he pured a 5-iron 190 yards to the uphill green, the ball landing about 40 feet short and rolling in. watney knew his shot was extraordinarily straight, but since he couldn’t see the ball after it landed, was just hoping it would get close. the crowd told him differently. “i thought obviously it would miss and they would say “oh!”—but they didn’t,” he said. a lifelong san francisco giants fan, watney said that with his first competitive double eagle and matt cain’s perfect game against the houston astros wednesday night “it’s been a good couple of days for me.” watney’s was the third double eagle in u.s. open history, following t.c. chen’s in 1985 at oakland hills, and shaun micheel’s at pebble beach in 2010. neither of those players went on to win, but if watney—whose 69 left him tied for second on thursday—does, only sarazen will have made a more famous 2. —Jaime Diaz (@JaimeDiaz24)