As amateurs, we’re accustomed to playing with other golfers who hit it so far off the map that you can’t even see where they hit the next shot. Heck, sometimes it’s not just our playing partners, it’s us too.
But when you’re watching a PGA Tour event, you usually have a vantage point to see where the pros are coming from. But Nick Dunlap apparently wanted to make everyone feel like they were playing with their hack buddies Saturday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Only it ended much better for Dunlap than it would have for those in the gallery.
On the 2nd hole during the weather-delayed third round of the Rocket at Detroit Golf Club, Dunlap completely airmailed the green from 173 yards.
His ball landed just short of a road long of the green and one-hopped a hedge between the road and the 3rd tee box of the Detriot Golf Club North Course. Ironically, the 3rd hole is the only hole on the North Course this week’s championship routing does not use, instead opting for the adjacent 1st hole of the South Course. But it’s not out of bounds.
So, while he was obscured to the gallery by the hedge, Dunlap grabbed his wedge and gave it a wack anyway.
The result? A ball flying from nowhere, landing on the green, checking and then releasing to just four feet.
The chip shot quickly went viral, but the PGA Tour’s Twitter account perhaps had the best caption, writing: “Please recreate this shot, @Johnson_Wagner.”
As fate would have it, Wagner, who has had made a name for himself recreating some of this year’s biggest moments on the course, was on the call for Golf Channel.
“Holy cow!” Wagner said. “That was unbelievable. That’s going to be a pretty good par save for Nick Dunlap if he can knock that one in.”
And this was no million-dollar move with a 10-cent finish. Dunlap canned the par putt to remain at eight under for the tournament. He later birdied four holes in row on his front nine to turn in 32 and get to 12 under, just two back.
