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There’s missing short putts, but then there’s this.

It is not often that a miss this brutal makes it into the public domain when it is not on one of the main tours.

But what will be most chastening for Korn Ferry Tour pro Tom Whitney is that his effort was televised and can now be shown over and over again.

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Unfortunately for Whitney, last week’s NV5 Invitational at The Glen Club in Glenview, Illinois, was broadcasted live on Barstool Sports.

As a consequence, his contender for the shortest putt missed in professional golf history has now been clipped up and viewed over a million times on social media.

Whitney had just hit a steady lag putt for birdie and sauntered over to tap in for his par. His ball mustn’t have been over four inches away from the hole.

There are, of course, no gimmes in professional golf but this would have been conceded even in the most fiercely competitive of amateur matchplay contests.

Whitney had the embarrassment of missing his stroke to the right edge of the hole as he looked to complete the formality of a par.

The fact that the 34-year-old American knelt down ready to pick his ball out of the ball before seeing it lipping out further than when he started only made things worse.

Whitney’s caddie last week was Ryan French, who runs the popular Monday Q Info account on Twitter.

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Reacting to the missed putt, French tweeted: “Tom came over to me handed me the putter, and on the way to the next tee, I just told him he was hitting it great and forget about it and we would make it up. (He also fist pumped a tap in on the next hole).”

At least Whitney found some humour in the incident, before going on to card 67 in his second round.

He ultimately finished T49 after a quiet weekend, but the most viral moment of the tournament was his frankly incredible par putt that he had so nonchalantly struck wide on Friday.

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