Michael Brennan had a decision to make at the 18th hole during the opening round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. His ball was sitting in shallow water near the green. His partner Johnny Keefer had a birdie putt waiting. The smart play was to drop.
Brennan took off his shirt instead.
“I was dropping it if I was just playing in a normal tournament,” Brennan explained afterward, “but Johnny had a birdie putt on the green. So I was, like, ‘Well, I guess we can try it.'”
The ball went completely underwater. The crowd lost its mind. Brennan walked to the drop zone, shirtless, grinning, and apparently unbothered — which tracks for a guy who averages 323 yards off the tee and ranks fourth on Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. When you hit it that far, you can afford to have a sense of humor about the occasional splash.
The best part? He and Keefer still shot 11-under 61. The shirtless water gamble didn’t cost them a thing except Brennan’s dignity, which he clearly wasn’t that attached to anyway.
Keefer, for his part, was philosophical about the whole thing: “Just to have him have my back…that’s massive. It’s the team chemistry that we have.”
Team chemistry. Sure. We’ll go with that.
What Ball Does Michael Brennan Play?
Brennan plays the Titleist Pro V1 — the gold standard for Tour players who want penetrating flight, soft feel, and the kind of consistency that holds up even when you’re standing shin-deep in a Louisiana water hazard. Whether it helped him on this particular shot is unclear, given that the ball ended up fully submerged.
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