Dean Burmester hits his tee shot on the 2nd hole at Gary Player Country Club.
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Dean Burmester ranks second on the European Tour in driving distance this season. He hits his tee shots, on average, 329.20 yards.
His other shots are far from short.
During Friday’s second round of the South African Open, Burmester hit a 2-iron off the tee on the 11th hole at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, South Africa. He hit a 2-iron to within about 4 feet of the hole on his second shot. The 11th hole? It’s a 569-yard par-5. Burmester covered nearly 600 yards in two shots without using a driver or a wood.
“Burmester, iron off the tee, and he’s absolutely nailed that,” an announcer on the broadcast said after Burmester’s second shot.
“Has he got the legs? Has he ever got the legs,” the announcer said as the ball landed. “I mean, that is a serious par-5. He’s just hit iron, iron to four and a half feet.”
Burmester hit his second shot from just about the middle of the fairway. “Go,” he yelled after the ball was in the air for two seconds. It went. “Get up,” he yelled after the ball was in the air for four seconds. It got up. His ball landed maybe a yard short of the green. “Get up,” he yelled again as the ball began to roll toward the hole. He got up again. It rolled just past the cup and to the right.
“Great shot, Dean,” a person in the background said.
Burmester would make the eagle putt, and he’s two strokes behind leader Jamie Donaldson. This week, he’s also been as good short as he’s been good long. Through the two rounds of the Open, he’s ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting.
After his round, Burmester retweeted the European Tour’s video of his second shot.
A commenter, fittingly, left a gif of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson flexing.
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
