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Veteran golfer Mark James strikes seagull trouble off the tee on famous 17th hole at St Andrews

Simon WhiteThe West Australian
VideoVeteran golfer Mark James was playing the famous 17th hole at St Andrews when he struck nearly unimaginable trouble.

The 17th hole at St Andrews is famous for offering up trouble for the world’s best golfers and very few birdies - but on Thursday night English veteran Mark James scored both, in totally bizarre fashion.

James, the former Ryder Cup captain playing in the Senior Open at the “home of golf”, strode to the 17th tee already at two-over for the day...only for things to get even worse within a matter of seconds.

For the uninitiated, St Andrews’ “Road Hole” features one of the most testing shots in golf.

The “tiger line” involves hitting the ball directly over the top of a hotel that borders the fairway, while a more conservative approach is to flirt with out-of-bounds and send it over the sheds adjoining the hotel.

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More timid (but possibly smart) players will actually aim way left and intentionally drive the ball into the rough to avoid having to dice with trouble.

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James appeared to be somewhere between the second and third strategies - and well away from danger - when he launched his ball off the tee.

But that was before a seagull flew into the path of his drive and sent it veering to exactly where he didn’t want it to go: the grounds of the hotel.

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RIP, you’d have to think, for the gull. And so too for James’ hopes of salvaging something from his first round at St Andrews.

Presumably forced to reload on his teeshot on the 412-metre par-four, he finished with a triple-bogey 7 en route to an overall score of 77.

He finished the opening day in joint 122nd spot, with significant ground to make up if he is to make the cut.

On the brighter side, surely he’s now used up all his bad luck.

By the way, the road hole gave up only three legitimate birdies for the entire first round, with 52 bogeys and 14 scores of double-bogey or worse.

English legend Sir Nick Faldo needed eight shots to complete the hole.

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