The Loop
How TV cameras missed Henrik Stenson holing a 108(!)-foot putt during second round of the Olympics
A golf ruling has struck again, but this time, it's not what you think.
During the second round of the Olympics men's golf competition, the golf balls of Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Thongchai Jaidee settled right next to each other in a greenside bunker on the third hole. It wasn't a big deal as Cabrera-Bello wound up marking his ball to allow Jaidee to play first. But while they sorted it all out, playing partner Henrik Stenson decided to go ahead with his par putt from 108 feet.
Stenson had already taken a drop of his own after finding water with his tee shot. He hit another 3-wood for his third an found the front of the green on the par 4. Now he was just looking to escape with a bogey, but instead, he made the improbable putt. Unfortunately, TV cameras missed it because of what was happening in the bunker. Well, sort of.
Here's a look at Stenson hitting his putt -- see him in the background tucked between Jaidee's bag and caddie?
And here is Stenson, who had just made a 58-footer for birdie on No. 2, reacting in shock to another long putt going in:
No replays were shown of the putt going in on either TV or streaming coverage so we're afraid there's no footage of the unlikely bomb that is likely the longest putt made in Olympics history.
But we know it did go in. And we know that Stenson has a great chance of adding golf's first gold medal in more than a century to that first major title he picked up last month.