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'Never seen anything like it': Former champ shocks British Open with 'nonuple bogey'

australian associated press

Adam Scott said he'd never seen anything like it after being caught up in the David Duval British Open debacle at Royal Portrush.

Scott was in the group behind Duval but had to play through when the American former world No.1 chopped around for an age in chalking up an extraordinary 14 on the par-5 seventh hole.

Bringing a smile to Sunday morning hackers around the world, Duval's humiliating eight-over-par tally is the second-highest score for a single hole in Open championship history.

Only Herman Tissie's 15 at Troon's Postage Stamp in 1950 has been worse.

Fair to say David Duval had an absolute shocker in the opening round at the British Open. Image: Getty
Fair to say David Duval had an absolute shocker. Image: Getty

Duval struck three wild drives, then hit the wrong provisional ball three times - first from the deep rough then from the fairway - before being ordered all the way back to the tee box for a fourth time.

With a penalty shot for each reload plus two more penalties for playing the wrong ball, he was effectively hitting his eighth shot the fourth time around - and completed the hole in a further six strokes.

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Scott's group, also featuring defending champion Francesco Molinari, temporarily played through as Duval chalked up his crazy number.

"I've heard of guys playing the wrong ball but not three shots in a row," Scott said.

Duval explains shocker

Duval, who won the 2001 Open at Royal Lytham but now mostly commentates, must have wondered why even played.

But the 47-year-old copped his near-half-hour horror show on the chin.

"A couple of bad tee shots and then we thought - the marshal had another ball. I asked if it was a 2, Titleist 2. And then I looked at it and saw 2 and then played almost the entirety of the hole," he said.

"And it turns out with the wrong ball. So then I had to go back to the tee, basically start the hole over. A very unique, awful situation."

But he had only himself to blame.

"I'm at fault. I didn't take a close enough look," said Duval, whose shocker came during a nightmare 16-over stretch in six holes.

And all this after he opened with two straight birdies - before finishing with a 20-over 91, the highest Open score since Australian Brydan Macpherson's 90 at Royal Liverpool in 2014.

"I am playing good golf, surprisingly," Duval said before vowing to return on Friday despite having no hope of making the halfway cut.