The Longest Official Putt In PGA Tour History Didn't Involve A Putter. Confused? We Explain All...
American golfer Craig Barlow is in the record books for holing the longest putt on the PGA Tour, but that doesn't quite tell the full story...
The longest putt holed on the PGA Tour was by Craig Barlow in the fourth round of the Buick Open of 2008. His eagle putt on the par-5 dogleg 1st hole measured 111ft and 5 inches.
However it was not played with a putter. It was a chip played with his lob wedge. But, as any shot on the green is classified as a putt, it is the longest officially recorded putt on the PGA Tour. Even if he didn't actually putt the ball.
Others have got the ball into the hole with a shot hit with a putter from further away than Barlow’s effort. Sang-Moon Bae, for example, did so from about 40 yards from the pin on the par-5 14th hole in the BMW Championship of 2015. But he played from the fairway and so this shot played with a putter from off the green is not officially considered a putt.
Rickie Fowler holed out on the Road Hole at St. Andrews with his putter from 126 feet at the 2010 Open Championship. But, again, that shot was not “a putt”, even if in everyday golfing parlance, his shot is described as a putt. He did, after all, putt the ball.
You voted @RickieFowler's long putt on the 17th at St Andrews as your favourite #ShotofTheDecade from The Open 🏆 pic.twitter.com/BPfwSByxnXJanuary 1, 2020
That day at the Buick Open Barlow had reached the green – albeit only by a matter of an inch or two – in two shots with his driver and then a 3-wood. The ball was on the front right of the green, the pin on the three-tier green was back right. He chipped onto the top tier, the ball bounced a couple of times and then rolled into the hole.
Shot Link was introduced on the PGA Tour in 2001 and has been used at every PGA Tour event since 2003. Shot Link, among other things, measures the length of every shot played. Before that, shot measurements quoted could be more haphazardly decided upon. Thus many lists of longest putts on the PGA Tour only include those from the Shot Link era.
But the Guinness Book of Records credits Jack Nicklaus and Nick Price with holing putts of 110ft, at the 1964 Tournament of Champions at Desert Inn and the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive respectively. In the Shot Link era, the nearest to Barlow’s monster effort is 103 feet and 5 inches in the fourth round of the 2011 Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale by Angel Cabrera.
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Contributing Writer Roderick is the author of the critically acclaimed comic golf novel, Summer At Tangents. Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine, travel supplement and website. He also compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose Golf & Country Club and has played golf in around two dozen countries. Cricket is his other main sporting love. He is also the author of five non-fiction books, four of which are still in print: The Novel Life of PG Wodehouse; The Don: Beyond Boundaries; Wally Hammond: Gentleman & Player and England’s Greatest Post-War All Rounder.
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