Ben Griffin had high eyes Sunday as he set out for the final round of the BMW Championship.
But he quickly discovered this was unlike any other round in his career.
With a late tee time at Caves Valley, Griffin didn’t take his usual creatine supplement until about noon, just as he began his round. Griffin said there was a “snowball” of creatine at the bottom of his container, so he broke it up and dumped it into his water ball.
“I’m all good. I’ve taken it on the golf course before,” Griffin said. “It’s fine.”
Until it wasn’t.
“I accidentally swallowed one of the big rocks in my water bottle,” he told reporters afterward. “I’ve never overdosed on creatine before, but I think I did in that moment because I didn’t really drink any water after that. I basically just inhaled a snowball.”
After his second shot on the opening hole, Griffin said he began to feel “super shaky.” That continued up on the first green, where he four-putted from short range and made triple bogey. And it kept going on the next tee, too, when he hit his tee shot out of bounds on 2 and “was freaking out and didn’t know what to do.” He briefly worried that he would have to withdraw.
That’s when Griffin’s caddie stepped in, telling Griffin to chug water and flush his system.
It took a minute or two, he said, but “then I was fine.”
Indeed, after starting six over through the first three holes, Griffin caught fire the rest of the round. He made seven birdies the rest of the way and came in with a 1-under 69, securing another top-15 finish during a season full of them.
“(I told myself) let’s pretend like that didn’t happen,” he continued. “It kind of sucks in the moment, like, Damn, I wish I could have reset my round and go back to 1 now because I felt good. Regardless, lesson learned. I’ll be better in the future now.”
Griffin, who has been one of the breakout stars of this season, earned his first berth in the Tour Championship and finished just outside the top six automatic qualifiers for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
“Pretty crazy story,” Griffin said. “I don’t think I’ll be taking too much creatine in the future. I will take it, but not in the amount that I probably did on the golf course, which wasn’t probably a healthy amount.”
