PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- A scoring change prevented Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard from posting the third-worst score on a single hole in a major championship in the past 20 years on Thursday.
Unfortunately for Bjerregaard, he still carded an 11 on the par-5, 552-yard 18th hole before making the turn at Pebble Beach during the first round of the 119th U.S. Open. His score was originally posted as a 13 by USGA officials, who apparently lost count.
It was the highest score for one hole at the U.S. Open since John Daly made a 14 on the 18th hole in 2000.
Bjerregaard, who defeated Tiger Woods in the quarterfinals of the Dell Technologies WGC Match Play in March and is ranked 45th in the Official World Golf Ranking, needed four tee shots to reach the fairway after hitting the first two into the Pacific Ocean to the left and his third out of bounds.
After hitting his fourth tee shot to the middle of the fairway, where he was lying seven, he laid up short of the green. He knocked his ninth shot onto the green and two-putted for an 11.
Billy Casper made a 14 on the 16th hole at Augusta National Golf Club during the 2005 Masters, matching Daly for the highest single-hole score in a major in the past 20 years. Sergio Garcia made a 13 on the 15th hole at Augusta during the 2018 Masters.
The highest single-hole score in U.S. Open history was a 19 by Ray Ainsley on the par-4 16th hole at Cherry Hills in 1938.