David Michelucci at the Australian Open on Friday.
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Our title tells the most important story of this article so far. WATCH: DP World Tour pro makes 139-yard putt to break world record. Well done, David Michelucci! That's incredible!
But we also try to keep you around for a minute. If you watch the video released by DP World Tour on Friday carefully enough, and read a bit about the attempt, you'll find other delightful bits, such as:
— Micheluzzi, a 28-year-old pro from Australia, isn't the only one trying it. Robert McIntyre gave it a try and one of his attempts hit a sprinkler head. Matt Wallace was already hitting the ball on the green. Joost Luiten, Dylan Fritelli and Yannik Paul were off by about 3 feet. Thriston Lawrence and Sean Crocker missed by about 2 inches. Romain Langasque missed by about 18 inches. Dan Bradbury said he failed on a previous attempt and ended up missing by about a foot.
– Yes, it was staged; no, it didn't happen in an actual tournament. The putt was made ahead of the DP World Tour Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship earlier this month on the 7th hole at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, a location deliberately chosen to outshine the previous Guinness World Records for “Longest Putt in Golf (Non-Competition).” That being said, putting at least partially supports the idea that if you can putt, putt. Leave your wedges in your bag—or in this case, your short irons. Yas Links fairways must look like pure.
— So why does DP World Tour do this? As far as we know, this can be answered with another question: why not? Very interesting. This is the content. The tour has previously attempted to break a Guinness record. According to their website, DP World Tour players have set the standard for “fastest golf holes for a four-person team” (24.75 for Crocker, Nicolai Hoggard, Min-Woo Lee and Wilco Nienaber) seconds); “Fast Personal Golf Hole” (1 minute, 29.62 seconds, Thomas Detry); and “Farthest Golf Ball Hit from a Moving Car” (Marcus Armitage’s 303 yards ).
But yes, the 139-yard putt is still the star here — though at least one guy can lay claim to a longer putt.
DP World Tour said Michelucci's effort came on his second attempt. During his record-breaking run, he pulled the putter back to waist height and hit the ball — a move he loved after about 2 seconds. “That's it,” he said. “That's it.” His ball avoided the aforementioned sprinkler head. Another missed ball. On the green, the ball starts to the left of the left hole, moves to the right, then breaks left at the end to find the middle of the hole. According to the footage, the ball rolled for 20 seconds and Michel Luzzi lifted the putter 11 seconds later. You can watch the full video below, with multiple angles of the record-setting putt below.
