Johnson Wagner attempts Tiger Woods’ iconic Canadian Open bunker shot, somehow emerges with pride intact
For the past 18 months, Johnson Wagner has served as Golf Channel’s de-facto crash-test dummy. Since he nearly tore UCL trying to Zapruder a Rory McIlroy water ball at the 2024 Players Championship, Wagner has traveled the globe, recreating some of professional golf’s toughest shots with, um, mixed results.
As brutal as some of these assignments have been, however, none compare to the short straw Wagner drew on Wednesday at the Glen Abbey Golf Club. There, at the former site of the RBC Canadian Open, Wagner continued his mission to recreate the greatest shots from Tiger Woods’ 2000 season with the fairway bunker blast heard around the world (or at the very least Canada). For a brief moment, as Wagner stood above his ball, 3-iron in hand to match the distance of Woods’ 6-iron, every single possible outcome, including a total whiff, was on the table. But when the dust settled and the ball came to a rest on the putting surface, Wagner walked away with his head held high.
Granted, Wagner’s line was far more conservative than Woods’, who crushed his 6-iron 218 yards over the trees, lake and back right pin position before sinking a two-footer for birdie. But with that many variables at play—plus a 21-year age disadvantage—this will go down as one of Wagner’s rare wins. His subsequent attempt to actually replicate Woods’ shot with a 6-iron didn’t go quite as well, but beggars can’t be choosers, and when it comes to imitating Tiger Woods, we are all very much beggars.