BILLINGS — A hole-in-one is the ultimate claim to fame in golf. But what Isaac Mosser pulled off at the Montana State Juniors tournament is among the rarest of feats.
On the 522-yard, par-5 No. 9 hole last Thursday at Lake Hills Golf Course, Mosser achieved a double eagle — also called an albatross. A towering drive, a knocked-down 8-iron and a one-hop doink off the flagstick gave Mosser, a recent Billings Skyview grad, a highlight most players never achieve.
Mosser explained to MTN Sports just how it all came together.
"I stepped up to the tee, and I'd been pushing my driver a lot, so I kind of finally got one turned over," he said. "It was downwind a bit, so it was a good draw. It probably went like 340 (yards), which is kind of crazy thinking about it now.
"I was staring at the pin sheet, and there's kind of this ridge, this back ridge, and I've only ever seen the pin up there for state two years ago. I was like, holy cow, this pin's pretty bad. So I had about 177 yards, and I was in between clubs, in between an 8- and a 9-iron, and I figured the 9-iron wasn't probably going to get there.
"So I used my 8, and it started right at the pin. It was drawing a bit, maybe like a couple yards, it was pretty straight, and I kind of saw it bounce, and I thought it might roll out a bit to the left, and I was like, shoot, that might not be that good, but luckily after that first bounce I guess the pin was there and kind of stopped it, and just one hopped in. There was only one guy up by the green that saw it go in."
Mosser said he had a rocky start to the first round of the State Juniors tournament. He scored a birdie on No. 8 to pull to 1-over-par and was simply looking to birdie No. 9 to pull even and then try to get something even better going on the back 9.
Instead, the double eagle put him at 2-under at the turn. Mosser went on to place fourth overall at the three-day tournament.
"I think it was my girlfriend, actually, her dad told her there's only like 300 or 400 of those a year," Mosser said. "I was like, no way that's true. I didn't double check him on that, but that's kind of unbelievable.
"I should have probably been more excited, but I kind of had a rough run to start. I was just kind of awe-struck, and I wasn't hyped or anything. It was like, 'Well, there we go, that'll get you back on track.' And I should have been more excited."
The statistics are unofficial, but one estimate published by the PGA suggests that the odds of making an albatross is about 6 million to 1. The PGA Tour averages only three to four double eagles per season.
By contrast, there are roughly 150,000 aces annually in the U.S. according to the National Hole in One Registry. Mosser is still chasing his first career ace.
Mosser, who won the Great Falls Invite as a senior this past season and tied for seventh at the Class AA state tournament at the Butte Country Club, will join the golf program at Montana Tech this fall.
Right now he is preparing to play in the Montana Men's State Amateur, which tees off Thursday at Green Meadow in Helena.
"The weather doesn't look that good, so I'm just looking to kind of keep the ball in play, keep obviously hitting good iron shots, and just keep the putting somewhat low and hopefully finish pretty well there," Mosser said.
No matter what happens in Helena and beyond, Mosser now owns a distinction that millions of golfers will never match.
