It’s a miss so bad that you almost need to do a double-take.
During Thursday’s opening round of the 2024 Senior Open Championship, English golfer Paul Broadhurst narrowly missed a putt on the green from Carnoustie Championship Course in Scotland.
But as the Englishman leaned down and tried to knock his ball in from mere inches out, he came up empty, hitting nothing but air.
How did he miss? 🫣#SeniorOpen | @ROLEX pic.twitter.com/uH8U8ZGBhg
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 25, 2024Broadhurst, 58, then had to go through the motions once more, at which point he successfully knocked his ball in the hole.
“To me, that’s an attempt at a stroke,” the tournament’s announcer said as Broadhurst walked away with a stupefied look on his face.
Broadhurst, who shot a three-under 69 in the first round, dissected the error afterward.
“I actually had a fresh-air putt,” he said. “I don’t know whether my balance was not quite right, and I sort of pulled out of it. And then the putter passed over that ball and went past it. I checked with the referee, and I’d made a legitimate attempt at it. I sort of went back and didn’t get to the ball.”
Despite Thursday’s gaffe, Broadhurst remains near the top of the leaderboard as of Friday, tied for seventh after shooting a two-over 74 in the second round for one-under overall.
The Walsall, U.K., native has amassed 21 wins over the course of his career.
Broadhurst has been quite fruitful on the PGA’s Champions Tour, winning the Senior Open Championship in 2016 and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2018, among other victories.
He is coming off an Invited Celebrity Classic victory in late April and had several top-10 finishes this year, including the Chubb Classic, Trophy Hassan II, the Mitsubishi Electric Classic and the Insperity Invitational.
Winners of recent senior events this year include Ernie Els (Bridgestone Senior Players Championship), Hiroyuki Fujita (U.S. Senior Open) and Richard Bland (Senior PGA Championship).
The action rolls on from Carnoustie until Sunday — although it’s likely no miscue can top Broadhurst’s.
2024-07-26T16:14:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd