With his ball nearly sinking in the water, Michael Brennan thought he was not going to take a penalty for it. He took off his shirt and tried to wedge the ball out of the shallow water. His experiment failed, as the only thing that dropped in the rough was the splashes from his swing. And his playing partner, Johnny Keefer, thinks he might get a few messages on social media for that.

“He might get a few DMs (after the stunt he pulled). He’s about to (go viral),” said Keefer.

The two seemed to share a friendly dynamic during the interview. That’s because Brennan and Keefer have become quite good friends since they decided to partner up for the Zurich Classic. Interestingly, they got together long before the final teams for the tournament were informed.

Keefer saw Brennan dominate the 2025 Bank of Utah Championship. Moments after his win, the 24-year-old received a message from the former to congratulate him. A moment later, Keefer raised the idea with Brennan by sending a simple, “Zurich?” via message. The one-time PGA Tour champion stated that he couldn’t say no after that.

They were also featured in a video by the PGA Tour to see how well they know each other. Through a game, fans got to see how much Keefer and Brennan think alike. Interestingly, the netizens also learned that the former is a great dancer. At least that’s what both of them agreed on during the friendship test segment.

Coming back to TPC Louisiana, the video from the 2026 Zurich Classic has been at the top of the headlines across various news channels. Playing the par-5 18th hole, Brennan’s second shot ended up in the water right of the hole. With Keefer sitting 23 feet away from the hole, he thought he would give his team the best chance by taking the shot from the water. He must have seen the muddy situation Justin Thomas got into during the 2025 RBC Heritage.

To avoid the splashback, Brennan decided to take off his shirt. Especially since he still had 9 more holes to play. However, he failed to strike the ball well enough to escape the situation. Instead, the ball bounced into the deeper end of the water. He got a lot of backlash from the fans for his absurd attempt that eventually failed. Keefer continued to play the hole while he sat back and watched. In the end, he was able to save a par and help his team continue their momentum.

The initial reaction to Michael Brennan was quite negative. Fans mocked him for failing to find the rough despite using an absurd method. However, there was another section of the fans who found it intriguing as well.

Comments ranged from complimenting his physique to praising his attempt to help his teammate out. Many of the netizens were surprised at how shredded the 24-year-old was.

However, the instance is still unique in a PGA Tour event. Hence, he might have a lot of eyes on him after the round. And considering the compliments he was getting, it won’t be a surprise if Brennan ends up attracting some interesting DMs from his fans. At least that is what Johnny Keefer was implying.

That said, this isn’t the first time someone has taken their shirt off during a PGA Tour event.

Michael Brennan didn’t start a new trend; he was only following what he had seen in the past

You would think that Michael Brennan taking off his shirt must be absurd. But he is not the first one to take such drastic measures to play a stroke. Others before him have done the same. One of them even did it twice in one event.

Back in February 2026, Isaiah Salinda was put in a similar situation to Brennan. His ball was sitting on the greenside of the lake after his shot completely missed the target on the 10th hole of the Cognizant Classic. So the 29-year-old decided to remove his polo to avoid the splashback from the mud. Instead, he was subject to a lot of backlash from the fans for it.

Akshay Bhatia also committed the same act back in 2023. Playing the third round of the Honda Classic, his tee shot on the sixth hole landed in the water close to the rough. Knowing where things might go, the young pro decided to take off his shirt before hitting the ball.

Only a few holes later on the 15th, Bhatia’s ball found the swamp once again. And he decided to repeat his actions from earlier in the day and take off his shirt again. Unlike the sixth hole, he couldn’t save for par this time around. He ended up scoring a double bogey to drop down on the leaderboard.