Former British Open Champion David Duval Cards a 13 on a Single Hole After Costly Confusion
David Duval doesn’t play much golf anymore, as he spends more time in the booth as a golf analyst for NBC/Golf Channel than he does on the course.
But he still plays the British Open every year, the venue of his greatest triumph in the sport. Duval won the 2001 Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes in England.
After his performance in the first round Thursday at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Duval probably wished he had stayed in the booth for this one.
On the 572-yard par-5 seventh, Duval had an absolute nightmare of a hole, carding a 13 — an octuple-bogey.
David Duval is now down for a 13 on the seventh hole.
That is the highest score at The Open since at least 1983 (when the TOUR started keeping hole-by-hole records).
The previous high was 11. That was accomplished by four players. Henrik Stenson (2011) was the most recent.
— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) July 18, 2019
It’s the third-highest score in British Open history. Herman Tissie had a 15 at Troon in 1950, while D. Murdoch had a 14 at Prestwick in 1925, according to USA Today.
The circumstances around Duval’s octuple bogey are bizarre.
After hitting a wayward drive on the seventh tee, Duval hit two provisionals, Golf Digest explained.
He went on to card an 8 on the hole, but it was determined that he played the wrong provisional so he was assessed a two-shot penalty and had to go back and play the right ball. When it was all said and done, he wound up with a 13.
David Duval posted a 13 (!) during the opening round of the Open after playing the wrong ball. ?https://t.co/hAullIHftr
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) July 18, 2019
It was shocking, particularly since Duval got off to a good start at Royal Portrush. He birdied the first two holes and was 2-under through four holes.
But then he had a quadruple bogey on the fifth hole and a bogey on six to fall to 3-over.
Then after the octuple bogey at seven, Duval stood at the eighth tee with a score of 11-over.
The meltdown went on from there as he went 9-over on the last 10 holes to finish with a score of 90, which is 19-over par.
1️⃣3️⃣
– Birdie
– Birdie
– Par
– Par
– Quadruple-bogey
– Bogey
– Eight-over-par
Former world number 1 David Duval hit 13 on par five on the 7th hole!
He’s currently 14 over for the day.#TheOpen pic.twitter.com/mev6kVZt0r
— The Sportsman (@TheSportsman) July 18, 2019
It was by far the worst score in the field — seven shots worse than the next worst.
It’s been a crazy tournament already with tournament favorite Rory McIlroy carding an 8-over 79. And it’s only day one.
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