A wise man once said that you never want to be the main character on X/Twitter on any given day. But there is somehow a worse scenario—being the misidentified main character on X/Twitter on any given day.
That was the predicament Canadian tour pro David Hearn found himself in on Sunday evening, when a story from ABC news misidentified him as David Hearn, the man accused of vandalizing the newly refurbished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.
Wait, what?
Three-time U.S. Olympian David Hearn told ABC News that police arrested him on Friday after he touched a piece of blue coating that was partially detached from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. https://t.co/Me5TRIy8W8
— ABC News (@ABC) June 22, 2026
Ardent golf fans likely noticed that in that picture is 47-year-old Hearn, a lefty from Canada who won on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2004 and has competed on the PGA Tour in some capacity for the last 20 years (Hearn teed it up in three PGA Tour events in 2025). If you saw this tweet, you’re first thought was probably “wait, David Hearn played for Canada in the Olympics?”
He did, in fact, compete in the 2016 Olympic Men’s Golf competition in Rio, tying for 30th while representing Canada. But the accused David Hearn in question is a former Olympic canoeist who represented the United States in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Games. Classic mixup.
That Hearn, who is 67, told the Associated Press that he reached into the pool to examine the peeling new coating, briefly touching a chunk that was attached to the side of the pool. A nearby worker told him to stop and Hearn let go. He was arrested by the U.S. Park Police on Saturday.
“I’m a curious citizen,” Hearn told the AP. “I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”
Unfortunately for Hearn, the golfer, ABC News used his picture, and he replied to the tweet on Sunday night:
Hey @ABC…please post a correct photo of the person in this article. I am also David Hearn. A 47 year old professional golfer from Canada. Not the person you are trying to report on. Thanks 😉
— David Hearn (@HearnDavid) June 22, 2026
@selinawangtv @abc
Please immediately take down the image you are using for this article. Please do your homework on who you are reporting. That is my image. I am David Hearn, a 47 year old professional golfer from Canada who has nothing to do with this!https://t.co/HRTJxMnbPR
— David Hearn (@HearnDavid) June 22, 2026
It appears ABC News has corrected the image in the actual story, but on X/Twitter, Hearn the golfer’s image remains, and it has been “Community Note’d”:
Unfortunately for Hearn, no amount of corrections/Community Notes will stop folks whose brains are broken from coming after the wrong guy. He’s handling it well, though:
Please read the article. Sometimes there is more than one person with the same name 😉 https://t.co/rqFQpTHwo0
— David Hearn (@HearnDavid) June 20, 2026
I guess I am going to have to reply to this a few times…Please read the article. Sometimes there is more than one person with the same name 😉 https://t.co/z6My2KK0ZU
— David Hearn (@HearnDavid) June 20, 2026
https://twitter.com/HearnDavid/status/2068772131387605171
You just can’t make this stuff up, folks.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com