PGA Tour golfer Gary Woodland has inadvertently set the internet on fire after his opening tee shot at the Sanderson Farms Championship ended up in the most unlikely of places.
What initially looked like a regulation drive on the course's 10th hole, instead began to veer towards the fold-up camping chairs of some volunteers just to the side of the fairway. The ball, seemingly with a mind of its own, then bounced off the back of the chair, along its armrest and into its cupholder.
Needless to say, it wasn't the hole that Woodward was looking for, but he was still impressed with himself as he said the shot was "pure talent" upon seeing the lie of the ball himself.
The television commentators covering the event were equally impressed.
"Does that count as a hole-in-one? How does that even happen?" one immediately asked.
"I have never seen that... one hop, rims it off the back and into the cup holder. It counts for nothing," came a reply that was followed by: "Nothing but net."
Writing for Golf Digest, Christopher Powers called the shot "a legitimate act of God".
"It's something strait out of the Mouse Trap board game," Powers said.
"You could spend the rest of your life on that tee box trying to replicate that shot and you'll end up in the grave before coming anywhere near pulling it off. No exaggeration, it is easier to make a hole-in-one than to hit a driver into the cup holder of a folding chair 300 yards away. Not that I'd know."
USA Today's Blake Schuster labelled the shot "wizardry".
"I understand you can't score that as an ace, but it should count for something — a free drink? He gets to keep the chair? You get the point.
"If only all misses on the golf course could be this impressive, so many more people would avoid breaking their clubs in frustration."
The volunteer whose chair is now internet-famous was equally dazzled by the moment.
"One in a million, that's more impressive than a hole-in-one. I jokingly said 'if you put Gary back there and have him hit a thousand balls I don't think he'd even land it, much less in the cup holder, or even hit the chair'."
Fortunately for Woodland, he was given a free drop from the chair and found the green from his next shot. Unfortunately, he three-putted from there to make bogey for the hole and ruin a good story.
Woodland ended up shooting an even-par 72 in his opening round of the tournament to sit well down the leaderboard, but it may end up as one of his most memorable rounds regardless.
