Royal Portrush has sent some of the best players in the world tumbling down the leaderboard on Day 1 of The Open, but Justin Harding took the hardest fall of the opening round.
The 33-year-old South African found himself with an impossible stance in the greenside bunker on the par-4 fifth hole, and he paid the price … with his backside.
Harding took a viscous swing while trying – and failing – to get out of the bunker, and then tumbled backwards into the sand, carefully protecting his wrist in the process.
Some people fall in love with links golf...
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 18, 2019
Some people just fall. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/k02xcr9e38
Harding was able to get out of the bunker with his next shot, but eventually walked off the fifth green a double-bogey 6.