Johnson Wagner notched three wins over the course of his PGA Tour career, but the 45-year-old pro-turned-Golf-Channel-analyst is now perhaps better known for his bad shots than his good ones.
At last year’s Player’s Championship, Wagner attempted to replicate a difficult chip live on air. The resulting shank was deflating — until Wagner realized that his humanity resonated with viewers. Now, Wagner’s reenactments of players’ pivotal shots are a staple of Golf Channel’s on-site coverage, and on this week’s episode of Subpar, Wagner broke down his best and worst performances of 2025 with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. Wagner started with the worst.
“Paul McGinley had been trying to talk me into chipping cross-handed at the PGA at Quail Hollow, and it was Sunday that I decided to do one, where Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm were both over the back of the 15th green,” Wagner said. “I putted one like they both did down to a couple feet, and I was like, oh, let’s have a little fun, let’s chip it cross-handed. And I skulled this thing probably 60 yards off the front of the green at 15 at Quail Hollow.
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“It was humiliating,” Wagner continued. “I had my brother, wife, son, all his friends were out there watching, and it was — it’s brutal to do something like that on live television.”
Wagner said his best shot was at East Lake in August.
“Best shot was without a doubt, Saturday at the Tour Championship,” he said. “It was the first time they were using the back tee on 15. And we’re out there for like an hour and there’s a little crowd because it’s right by an entrance, but it starts raining, so I didn’t really have time to loosen up or stretch.
“I decided it was 206 front edge into the wind in the rain, and I’m just gonna smash a 4-iron as hard as I can hit it,” Wagner continued. “And I hit this thing as high and as good as I’ve ever hit a 4-iron, and it came up about two yards short of the green in the water. That was the best contact I’ve made on any shot on television.”
For more from Wagner — including what it was like to recreate some of Tiger’s most famous shots for a special Golf Channel series — check out the full episode of Subpar below.
