Disc Golf Pro Tour celebrates 10 years of Philo Brathwaite’s albatross

A single second shot on an 850-foot par 5 turned a blind green into disc golf mythology, and the sport is still trading on the image 10 years later. The Disc Golf Pro Tour marked the anniversary with a video post that spotlighted Philo Brathwaite’s albatross at Milo McIver State Park’s West course, a moment that has outlived the 2016 Beaver State Fling itself.

Brathwaite’s throw landed on Hole 6, where the green was completely blind from the tee and approach. He reached for a 167-gram Star Destroyer, smashed the basket on his second shot and carded a 2 on the hole. The score helped him finish second in the tournament, but the bigger result came after the round ended: the clip raced across the internet and into the wider sports mainstream.

The shot quickly became the kind of highlight that disc golf had spent years trying to produce, one that was easy for newcomers to understand and impossible for veterans to forget. It landed on ESPN’s SportsCenter and then spread through NBC Sports, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Barstool Sports and other outlets. For a sport still fighting for consistent national attention, the “Philobatross” did more than generate clicks. It offered a clean, cinematic argument for why disc golf could travel beyond its own audience.

Brathwaite, then a 10-year PDGA veteran, told Ultiworld Disc Golf he was “literally in shock” after the clip took off. His reaction fit the scale of the moment. The shot was not just difficult, it was audacious: a par-5 attack on a blind target that rewarded absolute commitment and a little luck at the exact right moment. That combination has made it one of the sport’s most replayed shots, still mentioned in the same breath as James Conrad’s later “Holy Shot” whenever disc golf fans debate the most iconic throws in the game’s history.

That is why the 10-year marker matters to the Disc Golf Pro Tour as much as it does to longtime fans. The tour describes itself as the premier professional disc golf circuit, built to create and curate elite coverage and tell the story of the sport. Brathwaite’s albatross remains one of its clearest storylines: a single clip that helped turn highlight reels into fandom, and fandom into a more durable tour identity.

A decade later, the shot still resonates because disc golf keeps returning to the same tension that made Hole 6 unforgettable. Risk-reward spectacle sells, but only when the outcome feels both improbable and earned. Brathwaite gave the sport a defining example, and the “Philobatross” still stands as one of its most powerful branding assets.