IVINS, Utah — The crowds by the final green at Black Desert Resort cheered loudly for Australian Stephanie Kyriacou as she made her way up the last fairway at the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion, but it wasn’t because she was the winner of the inaugural edition of the event.

In fact, Kyriacou had done something coming down the stretch on Sunday in Ivins, Utah, that’s even rarer than winning a professional golf tournament on a major tour. She dunked her second shot on the par-5 18th hole to record an elusive albatross and polish off her final-round, 5-under 67 in style, a shot that propelled her to a T6 finish, what is her season-best result in a stroke-play event on the LPGA Tour this year.

“I nailed my driver and my second shot,” said Kyriacou with a smile after round four in the Utah desert. “Second shot was actually a pretty good number. It was 212 meters to the flag, and my 5-wood carries like 195, so it landed short, bounced up. I was just trying to hit on the green, to be honest. Then I smoked it, and it went in.

“But I kind of stopped watching it, and everyone was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, and then they cheered. I was like, ‘Oh, that's pretty good.’”

It’s the first albatross that Kyriacou has recorded in a tournament in her professional career and was a great exclamation point on what was a solid week at the Black Desert Championship for the 26-year-old. After getting off to a quiet start on Thursday with a 1-under 71, Kyriacou steadily improved over the next 36 holes, carding a 4-under 68 on round two and then firing a 6-under 66 on Moving Day in the Utah desert.

Her final-round 67 saw Kyriacou make two bogeys and four birdies in addition to her albatross, and she was overall pretty pleased to post a 72-hole total of 16-under in this tournament, what the Aussie feels like has been an incredible experience both on and off the golf course.

“This week has been unreal,” Kyriacou said. “The views, staying on site, what the tournament has done for us, the charter flight, everything. It's been super easy to get to. The course is unreal. I've never seen anything like it. It's kind of intimidating because if you miss the fairway, you're pretty much reloading. But other than that, everything else is unreal.”

Kyriacou’s final-round double-eagle marks the 53rd albatross to be recorded on the LPGA Tour since 1971, and it’s the second to be made in the last two weeks. Epson Tour graduate Yan Liu had an albatross during the second round of The Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas, knocking in her second shot on the par-5 8th hole at The Club at Carlton Woods from 170 yards with her 7-iron.

Her incredible final shot at Black Desert Resort is sure to give Kyriacou some positive momentum as she looks ahead to the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club, what is her next scheduled start on the LPGA Tour. But for now, Kyriacou is trying to soak in and enjoy the moment, knowing just how improbable it is to make an albatross in any 18-hole round of any kind.

“I have (had an albatross), but it's back at home, so doesn't really count. It's not the same. Well, it does, but in a tournament, on camera, there is proof. I can now say I've definitely had an albatross,” Kyriacou said. “If I do that again in my career, I'll be very surprised, so I'm trying to take it all in now. I'm sure I might be talking about it, so I'm going to kind of brace for the attention a little bit.”

Stephanie Kyriacou Makes Albatross on 18th Hole in Final Round of Black Desert Championship

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