No golfer is immune to a bad round, and that includes even the best. We know it's a tough game so, when it goes wrong for the world's elite, we can't help but have a little sympathy, but also force a little smile...
On Saturday at the DP World Tour's KLM Open, Joel Girrbach endured a final nine holes to forget, as the 30-year-old not only started off his back nine with a nine, but also ended with one at The International in the Netherlands.
Starting his third round at one-under-par for the tournament, Girrbach was well off the pace of overnight leader, Mikko Korhonen, and was likely looking at trying to shoot a low score and see how he would fair at the end of the day's play.
However, following three bogeys at the fifth, sixth and ninth for a front nine 39, the Swiss player would need to change his fortunes around on the back nine to pose any sort of score.
Coming to the par 4 10th, a hole that had played +0.34 over its par, Girrbach pulled his drive left into the fairway bunker and, according to the DP World Tour's website, proceeded to play his way down the left and then right hand side of the fairway. Eventually, he holed a putt from inside two-foot for a quintuple bogey nine.
To be fair to Girrbach, he did birdie his next hole, the par 3 11th, but back-to-back bogeys at the 12th and 13th meant he dropped down even further. Finding birdie at the par 5 15th, it was probably a case of getting into the clubhouse as quickly as possible and forgetting about the day's adventures...
Golf, though, doesn't show mercy to anyone and, at the par 5 18th, another hole that had played over-par for the day, Girrbach pulled his tee shot left and was forced to hit another. From there, now playing his fourth shot, the 30-year-old found the water, with a three-putt on the final green giving him a quadruple bogey nine, his second in nine holes.
Certainly, it's not the first time we've seen a high-score racked up on the final hole of a KLM Open. Back in 2022, Kiradech Aphibarnrat was on the cut line at one-under and needed a par to make the weekend. However, the Thai star put three balls into the drink and made a septuple bogey 12 to finish at six-over for the tournament.
As for Girrbach, he will start Sunday in the Netherlands dead last. However, so far, in 2024, he has had a number of fine results, including top 10 finishes at the Bahrain Championship and Volvo China Open. As of writing, he is 60th in the Race To Dubai standings.
