Commentators and spectators could scarcely believe their eyes when Ben Griffin began his final round at the BMW Championship on Monday.
The American world No.17 was in the hunt for a win at the $30 million 50-player tournament which acts as the penultimate week for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
He hit off the first tee and found the fairway, then hit the green in regulation on the par-four to give himself a birdie chance.
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But Griffin then took a swig from his drink bottle and everything fell apart.
He mysteriously four-putted from inside five feet of the cup to card a double bogey, then walked to the second tee and whacked his drive out of bounds.
After his first three holes he was 6-over for the round and viewers were struggling to comprehend the catastrophe unfolding.
Ben Griffin four-putted the first hole after overdosing on creatine. Nine
Griffin ended up composing himself and going 7-under through his last 15 holes, and later explained exactly what happened during those disastrous three holes.
“It’s kind of an interesting story,” he laughed.
“I take creatine as a supplement, this morning I didn’t take it until I basically teed off on (hole) one.
“I was at the end of my batch… I’ve taken creatine on the golf course before, it’s fine. But I took it after my second shot and I accidentally swallowed one of the big rocks that was in my water bottle.
“I’ve never overdosed on creatine before but I think I did. I started getting super shaky, I’ve never felt like this before and I literally felt like I had tremors.
“I four-putted on one and then on two I was freaking out, I didn’t know what to do and I hit (my drive) so far out of bounds.
Ben Griffin speaks about his creatine overdose. Twitter
“Luckily my caddie stepped in and made me chug a heap of water, I honestly tried to calm down a little bit. Then I was fine.
“Then I felt good, I went about my day and got it back to under par. But pretty crazy story, I don’t think I’ll be taking too much creatine in the future – I will take it but probably not the amount I did on the golf course, which probably wasn’t a healthy amount.”
Creatine supplement aids muscle growth and recovery and is popular among athletes.
Griffin finished his round 1-under for the day and 3-under for the tournament, earning him a tie for 12th spot and a spot in the $60m Tour Championship field this week.
His three-hole nightmare on Monday probably robbed him of a spot in America’s Ryder Cup team. He sits ninth on the list – only six golfers are picked – and will need to rely on a Keegan Bradley captain’s pick to get into the team.
