Golfer's brutal unwanted history after 'horrendous' score on Par 3

Some top players have had the yips to start The Players Championship at Sawgrass, but few would claim a bigger first-round shocker than South Korea's Byeong Hun An.

Sergio Garcia leads the tournament after the opening round, but many, notably reigning champion Rory McIlroy, but few had as much trouble with the par 3 17th hole than the South Korean hopeful.

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Hun An put four balls in the water as he tried to land one on the infamous 'island green', ultimately finishing with an unflattering score of 11 for the hole.

Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, it was the second highest score ever recorded on that hole.

Hun An showed he could see the funny side in a post on Twitter afterwards, accepting that it simply wasn't his day.

"We all have bad days in our life and we just have to learn to move on," he wrote.

"But it was a horrendous f—-ing tee shot on 17th."

It took An a total of nine shots just to reach the green, which he followed up with two putts to finally put the troublesome hole in the rear view mirror - at least until round two.

He wasn't the only player to endure a shocking run with the Sawgrass water hazards, with reigning champ McIlroy also struggling to find his shot.

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McIlroy, the defending champion, opened with a double bogey from the trees. He hit two in the water on the 18th and made a quadruple-bogey eight.

The former world No.1 wound up with a 79, his worst score since his opening round at Royal Portrush in the 2019 British Open.

When darkness brought the first round to a halt - 21 players didn't finish - there already were 13 scores of 80 or higher. That included Henrik Stenson with an 85, his highest score ever on the PGA Tour.

There were 22 scores of triple bogey or worse.

Garcia had no such problems though, and said after the first round that he was feeling good.

"For some reason, it just kind of fits my eye," said Garcia, who won The Players in 2008 and has twice been runner-up. "I see what I want to do pretty much every hole, and then it's a matter of doing it."

British Open champion Shane Lowry took bogey on his final hole for a 68 and was tied with Corey Conners and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Bryson DeChambeau, coming off his victory last week at Bay Hill, had to take a little off his driver on the par-5 16th and had 9-iron left, setting up a birdie-birdie-par finish to join the group at 69.

With AAP

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