The conversation at the Cognizant Classic shifted to a bird’s life when Ryan Gerard hit his tee shot on the par-3 7th. His ball clipped a passing bird, and everyone wondered whether the feathered creature met its death. Someone needed to address the matter, and it was Golf Channel’s on-course analyst Smylie Kaufman who cleared the air.

Kaufman confirmed on X that the bird had survived even though Gerard’s ball hit it. He described its last-second evasion as more of an athletic move than a lucky escape.

As per the former pro-turned-broadcaster, the bird had pulled off a sharp directional change mid-flight, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision, and walked (flew) away with nothing more than possibly a lost feather. Before Kaufman’s tweet, it was an actual mystery what happened to the feathered friend for two specific reasons.

Firstly, Gerard’s tee shot ended up on the green. If the ball had caught the bird fully, that would’ve been nearly impossible. The slow-motion footage offered more details and completely backed Kaufman’s reporting.

Gerard’s ball had actually sailed left of the bird, grazing its feathers, some of which could be noticed in the clip. But what most viewers mistook as the “decimated bird” (à la Randy Johnson) was the grass from his divot flying through the frame at exactly the wrong moment.

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In 2001, during a spring training incident, American baseball player Randy Johnson’s ball struck and disintegrated a bird in the middle of the field. Netizens were comparing the two, as Gerard’s clip looked almost identical at full speed. They did not shy away from the comparison it invited.

“I guess it was my Randy Johnson moment,” Gerard, the highest-ranked player in the field, said after the round.

Secondly, even though rare, there have been incidents of a stray shot catching a bird. In fact, Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal referenced the Kelly Kraft incident at Hilton Head directly in his reply to Kaufman’s post.

That reference carried real weight. At the 2018 RBC Heritage, Kraft’s tee shot on the par-3 14th actually struck a giant black bird mid-flight, sending the ball into the water and costing him a double bogey. He went on to miss the cut.

Furthermore, there have been multiple incidents of amateurs and recreational golfers accidentally hitting and nailing a bird with their tee shots. That was also why a confirmation from Kaufman came as a relief to most.

The incident unfolded as Gerard’s peripheral vision at address left him completely unaware of the bird until after impact. However, the shot still found the green about 35 feet from the cup, and Gerard two-putted for par.

Despite the composure on that hole, he struggled elsewhere, finishing the day tied for 100th at +3 through 16 holes, a tough result for someone entering the week as the favorite.

The moment became the highlight from Day 1, but the wildlife chaos did not stop at the seventh.

Funny moments from PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic 2026

The golf world saw Chris Kirk attempting a shot on the sixth hole with a goose making noise nearby as he tried to play his shot from near the water’s edge. His legs were also apparently sinking because it turned out to be quicksand. Meanwhile, Nico Echavarria was making headlines for an entirely different reason.

The Colombian player had to dip his toe into the water on hole 17, a par 3 measuring 181 yards. Echavarria, despite his ball literally floating on the water, chipped beautifully to save par. His pants got ruined, but surely, the two-time PGA Tour winner won’t have any regrets. He fired 8-under for a solo second.

Ryan Gerard, himself, had to take his socks off as his ball landed in a muddy area. But of course, his apparent bird-hitting tee shot took the limelight away from whatever else happened at PGA National. And Kaufman’s update was the closure everyone needed.