Do you remember the infamous Randy Johnson pitch from 2001 that vaporized a dove during a training game? Well, Ryan Gerard recreated that moment on the PGA National Champion Course while driving the ball in the first round of the 2026 Cognizant Classic. And that has left the fans in shock.

As shared by Fore Play, “RYAN GERARD WENT FULL RANDY JOHNSON.”

The video reveals Gerard driving the ball on the 207-yard par-3 7th hole with his iron. He had only scored bogeys in the round so far. Desperate for a birdie, he found the wrong kind of bird with his ball.

Just as he was about to make contact, a bird flew into the screen. As seen in the video, it seems that the ball hit the bird before flying towards the green. As per the PGA Tour website, it landed 32 feet and 11 inches away from the cup after the deflection.

Stats aside, the incident was quite shocking. After making contact with the ball, it looked like the bird lost a lot of feathers. The video isn’t clear enough to distinguish whether the bird was seriously injured. However, it’s worth clarifying that Gerard’s drive also took a bit of a divot. So what dropped from the general direction of the bird could also be grass and mud.

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The video has still left the fans confused. And they are debating about it in the comments. Let’s see how everyone has reacted.

Netizens are perplexed whether Ryan Gerard has hit a bird or not

The community is clearly divided about whether Ryan Gerard hit the bird or not. While some are concerned about the bird, others think the PGA Tour pro never made contact with it.

One of the fans said, “That’s an incredible shot considering the trajectory it lost from killing that bird…”

If the ball had hit the bird, then Gerard still managed to get it to land on the green. As mentioned earlier, the ball ended up 33 feet away from the cup. He finished the hole on par in the end. Maybe if the bird hadn’t interfered, then he would have gotten closer to a birdie.

Confident that no bird was hurt on the Champion Course at that minute, someone said, “That was his divot. Somehow the bird dodged down and flew away left.”

Reviewing the replay footage on the PGA Tour website, you can see that Gerard’s drive did take a divot. And it did fly down at the same angle, which made it seem like the bird had dropped. It’s understandable why the low-quality footage shared by Fore Play might be deceptive.

But if Gerard still managed to hit the bird, then someone questioned, “How tf did the ball still fly almost pin high?”

The ball didn’t change its trajectory much and continued to fly high. It landed on the green, just as he would have hoped it would. Not losing air or direction further proves that the ball didn’t actually make contact with the bird.

Imagining that Gerard did hit the bird and still made the green, someone raised an interesting query: “Where the fuck was that ball going to land if he didn’t hit the bird?”

If the ball did make contact with the bird and still landed under 207 yards, then the power he used to hit it would have actually made it land much further than that distance. In fact, without the obstruction, Gerard might have hit the ball out of bounds. That is only if his ball had been diverted in the first place.

Lastly, someone jokingly asked, “Is this considered a birdie?”

Well, the bird would probably hate the question. But since it wasn’t hit by the ball, it might not be upset with it. However, Gerard would have still preferred to get a birdie for it, but he ended up scoring a par. That kept his score at 2-over after seven holes.