No player Thursday will have a stranger story to tell than John Senden.
Playing in the first round of the Australian PGA Championship, Senden was 2 under par and teeing off on the par-5 ninth when his driver shaft snapped during his downswing. He completed his swing, somehow, but was unable to make contact, striking the turf instead.
Senden immediately dropped his club and began shaking his right hand, after he was pinched by the end of the broken shaft.
Even worse: A rules official determined that Senden’s swing counted as a stroke.
“I had no chance of stopping the shot,” he said afterward, “so unfortunately that counts as actually one stroke.