Has the @rydercup started already??🇪🇺🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/s6EImcbnZv
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) September 29, 2016
CHASKA, Minn. — Is it too late for Davis Love III to recruit one more player for his United States Ryder Cup team?
How about David Johnson, an American fan from North Dakota who made the biggest putt of the Ryder Cup this week — a downhill 12-footer in front of four of the top players on Team Europe on Thursday at Hazeltine National?
Johnson, sitting in the stands, watched as Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Andy Sullivan unsuccessfully tried to make a putt on the eighth green.
Finally, he yelled out to Rose, “You can’t make that putt!’’
So Stenson, the reigning British Open champion, yelled back, “Yeah, can you make that putt?’’ And he called Johnson out of the stands to try it.
Johnson, wearing jeans, a red Ryder Cup pullover and loafers, stepped onto the green and was given Sullivan’s putter while Rose peeled a $100 bill out of his wallet and placed it on the green next to the ball.
With the crowd hushed and the European players staring him down, Johnson calmly drained the putt — a putt that had some speed to it and would have missed by a lot had it not found the hole — and broke into a wild fist-pumping celebration, getting hugs and high-fives from all four players.
“That guy is going to have a story to tell for the rest of his life,’’ McIlroy mused afterward.
“I razzed them a little bit, and they heard me, which was insane,” Johnson told reporters. “They brought me out, which is more insane. I haven’t fully realized what just happened, but overall that was a pretty cool experience, I would go ahead and do that again if I could.”
Asked how he did it under such scrutiny, Johnson said, “I closed my eyes, swallowed my puke, and hit the putt … it happened to go in.”
Little did Johnson realize that video of the entire exchange went viral before he got back to his seat in the grandstand.
“We were playing a match against Andy and Rory, and they had that putt and Andy didn’t make it,’’ Stenson said. “We were trying to find the right line, and [Johnson] yelled, ‘I can make that,’ so we let him have a go and he came down.
“Rosey put $100 on the ground, and the guy just drilled it in the center. He would have been chipping [next] if it didn’t go in, but … all credit to him for making it.’’
When Rose tried to hand the $100 to the fan, Johnson initially waved him off, as if to say he wouldn’t take it. But after about a half-second of prodding by Rose, he took the bill.
“I thought it might make it a bit more real for him, but clearly not,’’ Rose said of slapping the $100 down. “He stepped up and hit it. The boys were missing it a cup out, missing low, and this guy just got up and ball-out, just ripped it in the middle. Fair play to him.
“And,’’ Rose added, “he celebrated in style, too.’’