Nick Piastowski
David Micheluzzi on Friday at the Australian Open.
Getty Images
Our headline, by far, tells this article’s biggest story. WATCH: DP World Tour pro makes 139-yard putt, breaks world record. Well done, David Micheluzzi! That’s incredible!
But let’s also try to keep you around for a minute. If you look close enough at the footage released Friday by the DP World Tour, and read a bit about the attempt, there are other delectable items, such as:
— Micheluzzi, a 28-year-old pro from Australia, wasn’t alone in trying. Robert MacIntyre gave it a go — and one of his attempts hit a sprinkler head. Matt Wallace hit a ball already on the green. Joost Luiten, Dylan Frittelli and Yannik Paul missed by about 3 feet. Thriston Lawrence and Sean Crocker missed by about 2. Romain Langasque missed by about 18 inches. Dan Bradbury missed by about a foot — after saying he shanked an earlier attempt.
— Yes, it was staged; no, it didn’t come in actual tournament play. The putt was recorded on the 7th hole at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, ahead of the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship earlier this month, at a spot purposefully picked to better the previous Guinness World Records mark of “longest golf putt (non-tournament).” That being said, the putt gives at least some support to the thought that if you can putt a ball, putt a ball. Leave the wedge in the bag — or in this case, a short iron. The Yas Links fairways seemingly must have been pure.
— So why the heck did the DP World Tour do this? As far as we can tell, that can be answered with another question: Why the heck not? It’s fun. It’s content. The tour’s also tried to break Guinness records before. According to their website, DP World Tour players have set the standard for “fastest hole of golf by a team of four” (24.75 seconds by Crocker, Nicolai Hojgaard, Min Woo Lee and Wilco Nienaber); “fastest hole of golf by an individual” (1 minute, 29.62 seconds by Thomas Detry); and “farthest golf shot caught in a moving car” (303 yards by Marcus Armitage).
But yes, the 139-yard made putt is still the star here — though there’s at least one person who can claim to have made a longer one.
Micheluzzi’s effort came on his second attempt, the DP World Tour said. On the record-breaker, he took his putter back to waist level and hit — and after about 2 seconds, he liked it. “That’s it,” he said. “That’s getting there.” His ball avoided the previously mentioned sprinkler head. It missed another ball. On the green, it started left of the left hole, worked its way right, then broke left at the end and found the middle of the cup. Based on footage, the ball rolled for 20 seconds — and Micheluzzi had his putter raised after 11. You can watch the complete video below, and below that are multiple angles of the record putt.
Celebration followed the make. Micheluzzi started running down the fairway. He kicked his feet together. He did a cartwheel. He threw his putter. Eventually, Micheluzzi plucked his ball from the hole. He’d broken the previous mark of 401 feet, 2 inches, set last year by Jay Stocki, a semi-retired advertising executive, at the Baths, the par-3 course at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin.
But was Micheluzzi’s putt the longest-ever non-tournament putt?
By the Guinness book, yes. Of course, maybe you or your friends have dropped one. Or maybe you saw Wesley Bryan make a 144-yarder earlier this year (and if you haven’t, you can watch it here). The video of it lasted just about 20 seconds, and the putt itself took 14 seconds to go from the fairway to the hole. Bryan took nearly a full swing with his putter, the ball rolled about 25 feet left to right, it dipped just before the green, it tracked toward the hole — then it fell and the party started. Shouts. A chest-bump.
But in the replies to the posting of the video, it was noted that the Guinness folks weren’t contacted. (The process to verify a record can be found here.) Still, Bryan did make it and that’s, well, something.
We’ll wrap things up here with a few links.
Please click here to read about the previous Guinness world record for “longest golf putt (non-tournament).” Or please click here to watch it.
Please click here to read about the Guinness world record for “longest golf putt in a major tournament.” The putt was 110 feet. 2 inches, and it was made by Nick Price at the 1992 PGA Championship. (The website also lists a putt made by Jack Nicklaus at the 1964 Tournament of Champions here.)
Please click here to read about the Guinness world record for “longest successful putt on the PGA Tour.” The putt was 111 feet. 5 inches, and it was made by Craig Barlow on Jan. 27, 2008, at the Buick Open.
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Nick Piastowski
Golf.com Editor
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
