The Loop

New Jersey man sinks 50-foot putt to win $10,000, goes understandably nuts

August 14, 2019
Closeup of golf ball by hole with $100 bills sticking out.

Just 50 feet for $10,000.

As part of the 17th Annual Nose Tackle Classic—a golf outing at the Glen Ridge Country Club in New Jersey with the money going toward the Anthony P. Marotti Memorial Scholarship Foundation—Anthony Carnevale found himself with one shot to earn quite a bit of cash.

The 29-year-old from Oradell had been putting well all-day on Monday. To get to the $10,000 shot, Carnevale needed to make a 10-footer, a 15-footer and then be the closest to the hole on a 35-footer out of the six golfers who had made the previous two putts. Carnevale had been having a good day on the greens, including a 30-foot birdie putt in the scramble on the fourth hole, a par 3, but he never expected to hit the crucial putt on the Glen Ridge putting green.

"I'm just like, don't embarrass yourself," thought Carnevale while holding Titleist's Scotty Cameron Select Newport 2 putter.

"People are starting to gather around," Carnevale said. "I kind of look at a spot and I just hoped that it would get there. I hit it at the spot and right away I liked what I was looking at."

Using a read from his friend Brian Davis, Carnevale hit a putt that picked up speed, continued on its way after two little bumps and bent left. It wasn't dead-center, but that doesn't seem that important.

NSFW tag for profanity. Video courtesy of Brian Davis:

For the $10 he spent to enter the contest, Carnevale added a lot of zeroes to that initial investment.

In the 17 years that this memorial outing has existed, no one else has sunk the money putt, and although he hasn't received the cash yet, Carnevale has a few ideas on what to do with it, including paying off some student loans, potentially getting some new irons and "obviously" playing a little more golf.

"I'm close with the guy who ran the outing, so I'm not worried about not getting the money," Carnevale said. "I told him, like Happy Gilmore, if you guys have the big check, I'll take the big check."

As the video shows, Carnevale and company were euphoric after the putt dropped in the hole.

"I can't believe that actually worked. It really went in," said Carnevale, still in disbelief. "We had fun after. I'll tell you that much."