It is a tradition that will come to define a generation of sports fans, and it runs four letters in length.
For those who did not follow professional sports in the late ’90s and early 2000s, here’s how it works:
One aims a spherical object at a round target. Then, they send the object toward the target. As it is released (or after the object has hit its desired target), the person responsible for carrying out the action uses a single word.
Kobe!
The tradition is, of course, a nod to the late Kobe Bryant, the legendary basketball player whose scoring exploits earned him a place not only in the basketball hall of fame, but also in the hearts of millions of sports fans.
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Some do it in their own games. Others do it during a game of H-O-R-S-E. (I do it with a paper ball and a garbage can.)
Jessica Korda does it with a golf club and a ball.
On Wednesday in Hawaii, Korda sent golf Twitter into a frenzy with her own version of the tradition.
On the 8th hole during her first round at the Lotte Championship in Oahu, Korda faced a short chip shot from the front of the green. Her first and second shots on the 527-yard par-5 17th had left her with a little more than 25 yards to the flagstick. (She started the day on the back nine.)
She approached her chip, struck the ball and watched as it arced straight through the air toward the hole in front of her.
Plunk.
The 28-year-old had just chipped in for eagle.
A smile stretched across her face as she raised her arms in the air.
“Kobe!” Korda said, flexing her wrists in her finest jump shot form.
Immediately, social media reacted in kind.
Korda would go on to shoot five-under 67.