How was this NOT a hole-in-one for Dustin Johnson at the Northern Trust?

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Dustin Johnson made a rare snowman Thursday morning at the Northern Trust, but he nearly produced a number seen even less often on a US PGA Tour player’s scorecard a couple hours later. Playing the 212-metre, par-3 6th hole at Ridgewood Country Club, the World No.1 seemed destined to make a 1 until his ball lipped out. See for yourself:

Seriously, how did that not drop? Even DJ gave a big reaction. Well, a big reaction for DJ.

Instead of recording the 29th hole-in-one on the US PGA Tour this season, Johnson had to settle for a tap-in birdie that brought him back to four-under. In what was an eventful opening round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs for DJ, the 19-time winner had previously reached that figure under par through eight holes before hitting his tee shot out-of-bounds on the par-5 17th and making a triple-bogey.

Still, it was a solid 67 to start. It just was fractions of an inch away from being spectacular.

“I knew it was on a really good line,” Johnson said of his shot on No.6. “You couldn’t really see the hole with the way the sun was in our eyes, but yeah, you could tell by the reaction of the crowd that for a second, I thought it was in but everyone got their hands in, so I knew it had to be close. Yeah, almost an ace.”

Yep. Almost.