'Dufnering' takes Internet by storm

The world has planking. Pro football has Tebowing. Golf has “Dufnering.”

“It’s pretty neat,” said Jason Dufner, the subject of the online sensation.

Late in March, Dufner was photographed at a Dallas-area classroom with children and a teacher. He was slumped against a wall, his hair messy, his expression the definition of tired and bored.

The photo quickly went viral, spawning the birth of “Dufnering”: a person slumping, looking bored.

Several golfers have posted pictures of themselves in a similar pose, including defending Masters champion Bub­ba Watson next to his legendary General Lee car.

“I didn’t have to do much,” Dufner said of fueling the craze. “Just kind of being normal. My wife (Amanda) gets to see me do that quite a bit, so she wasn’t impressed. I’ve kind of run with it and let it go. There was a lot of press for not doing anything.”

Dufner said he has seen some serious efforts, and topping the list was a man in flight.

“The guy that was on a transport plane in the military and they dropped the bottom part out,” Dufner said. “They were about 20,000 feet in the air and he was doing it on the back end of the plane.”

Dufner said the photo has opened doors to people who didn’t know him.

“I’ve had some good results and people know I’m a pretty good golfer, and I think that adds to the personality that I have out here,” he said. “People can identify both with the play and Dufnering.”

Dufner will start his third Mas­ters in Thursday’s final pairing, going off at 1:52 p.m. with Matt Kuchar and Bill Haas.

Dufner made the cut in his previous Masters in 2010 and 2012, Last year he was in the lead after two rounds but finished tied for 24th. He said lessons have been learned.

“I think I have a pretty good understanding of what you need to do out here,” he said. “There are a lot of idiosyncrasies on the golf course that make it a challenge. Little things that people don’t know about it that make it a test.”

Like what?

“You never have a flat lie anywhere on the golf course,” Dufner said. “That makes it really tough to hit iron shots.”