It was a Ryder Cup practice round in 2016. At Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, Fox News reported, “McIlroy and teammate Andy Sullivan were struggling with a tricky downhill putt,” and the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead wrote that “McIlroy and Andy Sullivan were repeatedly missing that putt.” In the gallery was David Johnson, “an insurance agent based out of Mayville, North Dakota,” as the Ryder Cup’s website later described him. “Johnson was picked out of the gallery Thursday, Sept. 29,” the Forum wrote, after “talking trash to some Team Europe players who couldn’t make the same putt.”
“Couple guys tried two or three times to make the putt, and I said ‘I could make the putt,’ just yelled out,” Johnson told WCCO. “Henrik Stenson picked Johnson out of the crowd to come to the green and try to make the putt,” the Forum reported, and “Justin Rose slapped a $100 bill on the green next to the golf ball.” “He was given a short putter and told to prove it,” WCCO said. “The 6-foot-5 Johnson used a 28-inch putter, which he said was probably the shortest putter he has ever used in his life,” the Forum wrote. “I wasn’t nervous at all because I knew I was going to miss,” he said.
“I struck the putt way too hard, but I had the break right, so I got lucky,” he told WCCO. ESPN called it “a 12-foot putt”: “David Johnson from North Dakota, wearing jeans and a red shirt, rammed the ball in the back of the cup and celebrated as if he had won the Ryder Cup himself.” “The crowd’s roar could be heard across Hazeltine. The gallery went nuts, and Johnson was met with high fives and hugs,” WCCO reported, among them, ESPN wrote, “hugs from Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson.” “He then hugged all the European golfers,” the Forum added.
“The boys were struggling with their lines, and David was kind enough to come down and show us how to do it,” said Stenson, ESPN reported, “tongue firmly in cheek.” “The video went viral because McIlroy put his own video on Facebook and Twitter,” WCCO said; his post, as Fox News quoted it, read, “Has the @rydercup started already??” “It was a ‘Tin Cup’ moment,” Johnson told the Forum. “What a fun thing for them to do,” he said. “It just gives me more respect for those guys that they’re here for the spectators, they’re here for the fans.” “Then he showed up in New York City on Monday night to appear on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,’” Golf News Net reported.
Two years later, the Ryder Cup’s website caught up with him. “The $100 bill that Justin Rose laid down on the green as an extra incentive for Johnson to make the putt was signed by Rose, Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson,” it wrote. “Johnson framed it and keeps it in a safe, ‘so that’s certainly not going to be spent,’ he said, laughing.” And “from one of the interviews I did,” he said, “I was given the opportunity to go to the Masters.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- A fan mocked Europe’s best golfers for missing a putt, so they dared him to make it. The Forum: he “sank a 12-foot putt at a Ryder Cup practice round after talking trash to some Team Europe players who couldn’t make the same putt”; “causing Johnson to tease the golfers.” WCCO: “He was given a short putter and told to prove it.” 12
- His name is David Johnson, an insurance agent from North Dakota. The Ryder Cup’s website: “Johnson, an insurance agent based out of Mayville, North Dakota.” The Forum: “David Johnson of Mayville, N.D.” 51
- At a Ryder Cup practice in 2016, Rory McIlroy kept missing the same putt. The Forum: “Johnson was picked out of the gallery Thursday, Sept. 29”; “McIlroy and Andy Sullivan were repeatedly missing that putt.” Fox News: “McIlroy and teammate Andy Sullivan were struggling with a tricky downhill putt … at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.” 14
- So Johnson yelled, “I could make the putt.” Johnson, to WCCO: “Couple guys tried two or three times to make the putt, and I said ‘I could make the putt,’ just yelled out.” Johnson, to the Forum: “For some reason I yelled out ‘I could make the putt.’” 21
- Then Henrik Stenson called him out of the crowd. The Forum: “Henrik Stenson picked Johnson out of the crowd to come to the green and try to make the putt.” 1
- Justin Rose dropped a $100 bill next to the ball. The Forum: “Justin Rose slapped a $100 bill on the green next to the golf ball.” ESPN: “Justin Rose even put a $100 bill down on the green for if he made it.” 13
- Johnson is 6-foot-5, and they handed him a short putter. The Forum: “The 6-foot-5 Johnson used a 28-inch putter, which he said was probably the shortest putter he has ever used in his life.” WCCO: “He was given a short putter and told to prove it.” 12
- “I wasn’t nervous at all because I knew I was going to miss,” he said. The Forum: “‘I wasn’t nervous at all because I knew I was going to miss,’ Johnson said.” 1
- He hit the 12-foot putt way too hard. Johnson, to WCCO: “I struck the putt way too hard, but I had the break right, so I got lucky.” ESPN: “a 12-foot putt.” Fox News: “nailed the 12-footer.” 234
- It rammed into the back of the cup. ESPN: “David Johnson from North Dakota, wearing jeans and a red shirt, rammed the ball in the back of the cup and celebrated as if he had won the Ryder Cup himself.” 3
- The crowd exploded, and McIlroy and Stenson hugged him. WCCO: “the crowd’s roar could be heard across Hazeltine. The gallery went nuts, and Johnson was met with high fives and hugs.” ESPN: “getting hugs from Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson.” The Forum: “He then hugged all the European golfers.” 231
- Rory posted the video: “Has the Ryder Cup started already?” WCCO: “The video went viral because McIlroy put his own video on Facebook and Twitter”; on Facebook, “Has the #RyderCup started already?” Fox News: “Has the @rydercup started already??” 24
- Rose, McIlroy and Stenson signed the bill. The Ryder Cup’s website (2018): “The $100 bill that Justin Rose laid down on the green as an extra incentive for Johnson to make the putt was signed by Rose, Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson.” ESPN: “said Johnson, who got the currency autographed.” 53
- He framed it, and says it will never be spent. The Ryder Cup’s website (2018): “Johnson framed it and keeps it in a safe, ‘so that’s certainly not going to be spent,’ he said, laughing.” 5
Sources
- Mayville, N.D., man sinks putt heard around the golf world at Ryder Cup (Eric Peterson, September 29, 2016) The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead (InForum)
- American Heckler Bests European Pros In Challenge Putt, Wins $100 (2016) WCCO (CBS Minnesota)
- Ryder Cup fan wins $100 after Europeans issue putting challenge (September 29, 2016) ESPN
- Heckler sinks $100 putt during Ryder Cup practice (September 29, 2016) Fox News
- We caught up with David Johnson, the fan who made the putt at the Ryder Cup (2018) Ryder Cup
- Ryder Cup heckler who made $100 putt shows up on ‘Late Show’ with Stephen Colbert (Ryan Ballengee, October 4, 2016) Golf News Net
Notes
Which green: the 8th, in the Forum’s, Fox News’s and WCCO’s reports, or the 6th, on the Ryder Cup’s website and in a Fox News photo caption. The Short names neither.
The putt’s length: 12 feet in most reports (the Forum, ESPN, Fox News, the Ryder Cup’s website); MPR News’s NewsCut blog said 10 feet and Reuters 15. The Short says twelve.
Who missed it: McIlroy and Andy Sullivan (the Forum, Fox News); WCCO adds Justin Rose. Johnson said McIlroy “sat over a putt three times and missed” (the Forum). The Short says only that McIlroy kept missing it.
Who set the challenge: every report has Rose putting down the $100 bill; some say Stenson set the challenge. The Short follows the Forum: Stenson called him out, and Rose put down the bill.
The putter: the Forum says it was 28 inches long, “probably the shortest putter he has ever used in his life”; the Short says “a short putter.”
David Johnson is a private person. Only what he and the outlets published about the putt is used: his town, his work as an insurance agent, his height and his own words. His workplace, age, schooling and family are left out, and so are a crude line of his and a joke he made about another player. Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose and Andy Sullivan are alive; only their part in the practice round and their public words are used.
Pictures: there is no free photo of David Johnson, of the putt, of the practice-round green or of his signed bill; every picture of that moment we found is press, agency or TV work, or McIlroy’s own video post, so he isn’t shown anywhere on this page. Hazeltine National is seen during the 2016 Ryder Cup week in two photos dated October 2, 2016, the final day, not the Thursday practice round: the lake and the course, and crowds around the 17th hole, whose people are not named (two by Darb02). Rory McIlroy is at Ryder Cup practice at Bethpage on September 23, 2025, watching a tee shot, smiling and grinning on a tee (three by Bryan Berlin), and leaning on his putter on a green on May 4, 2011 (Ed McDonald). Justin Rose is at the same 2025 practice (Bryan Berlin). Henrik Stenson walks at Hazeltine itself in a practice round of the 2009 PGA Championship on August 10, 2009, seven years before the putt (Karyn Wagner Pierpont), and stands with Jordan Spieth on the 17th green at East Lake during the 2015 Tour Championship, on September 27, 2015 (Cem0030). Europe’s team, with Stenson, McIlroy and Rose among them, holds the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles on September 28, 2014 (Scottish Government). Downtown Mayville, North Dakota, his home town, is seen with the Delchar Theater on September 6, 2010 (Ross G.). The $100 note is the US Treasury’s image of a series 2009 note, not his signed bill (US Bureau of Engraving and Printing), and the putter, ball and hole are two stock photos, not Johnson (Woodypino and Semevent, Pixabay).
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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