Social media ERUPTS over NBC missing first half of Russell Henley’s eagle chip-in during commercial break

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After stalling for the first 10 holes on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Russell Henley made a pair of crucial birdies at Bay Hill’s 12th and 14th holes to pull within one of Collin Morikawa’s lead. That set up a dramatic finish that started at the par-5 16th, where Henley split the fairway and Morikawa blocked his drive into a fairway bunker.

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Morikawa proceeded to lay up to 90 yards out. Henley missed his approach right of the green, a seemingly wasted opportunity to put some serious pressure on Morikawa, whose third came to rest 18 feet past the hole. That’s when NBC cut to commercial.

Golf fans watching from home were stunned when the broadcast returned. Why? Because Henley’s ball was already halfway towards the hole, eventually clanging off the flagstick and dropping in for a momentum-swinging eagle that would prove to be the most important shot of the entire week. Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy filmed the entire sequence and tweeted it out to his following of 3.6 million:

Golf Twitter, a notoriously critical bunch, naturally, erupted. Below is a sampling of the replies to the PGA Tour’s tweet of the full shot, in which NBC was credited:

https://twitter.com/NoLayingUp/status/1898846787688968285

https://twitter.com/SadBadgerFan/status/1898848522042319267

Henley’s hole-out proved to be the difference in the tournament, making this error more egregious. What makes it even harder to stomach for the fans, as many pointed out, is that Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter reported earlier this week that NBC and Golf Channel would actually have fewer commercials at the API thanks to Mastercard-sponsored segments tailored around player-caddie strategy: