Mark James was at the centre of one of golf's weirdest incidents yesterday during his first round of The Senior Open Presented by Rolex at St Andrews when his tee shot struck a seagull mid-flight before ricocheting out of bounds.
The 1999 Europe Ryder Cup Captain was playing the famous Road Hole 17th on the Old Course, St Andrews during the first round of The Senior Open when his tee shot, destined to find the fairway struck a bird mid-flight before firing straight right and into the Old Course Hotel - out of bounds.
Unluckiest golf shot of the year?
— Staysure Tour (@StaysureTour) July 26, 2018
Mark James' tee shot on the famous 17th hole on the Old Course, St Andrews hits a bird before going out of bounds. #SeniorOpen pic.twitter.com/jow7G0YbqN
Laughing off the incident after his round Mark James, part of the European Tour's broadcast talent, explained how it wasn't the first time he's encountered a bird strike during his round.
"It's one of those freak things. I flushed a seagull about 80-90 yards off the tee on the worst hole on the course," he said. "It’s happened once before 40 years ago in America when I was on the leaderboard at Doral – it went right into a lake. Both that time and this time I was playing with Sandy Lyle. That can’t be coincidence, there’s a force at work here. If I’d been on commentary I’d have had a field day." .
Unfortunetly for James the rules of golf put this one down as bad luck;
Rule 19 -1- By an outside agency
If a player's ball in motion after a stroke is accidentally deflected or stopped by an outside agency, it is a rub of the green, there is no penalty and the ball must be played as it lies.
The misfortune resulted in James eventually carding a triple-bogey seven and signing for a first round 77.
