Ben Griffin admitted an unusual mistake with his pre-round supplement routine was to blame for his nightmare start at the BMW Championship on Sunday.
The American endured a disastrous opening stretch, dropping six shots across his first three holes, including a triple-bogey on the very first.
While the scorecard suggested nerves or poor execution, Griffin revealed the real culprit was an ill-timed dose of creatine.
“I usually take creatine as a supplement,” he explained. “But this morning I didn’t take it until right before I teed off on the first hole.
Ben Griffin admitted an unusual mistake with his pre-round supplement routine was to blame for his nightmare start at the BMW Championship on Sunday
|GETTY
"I was at the end of my batch so I ended up with a big lump of creatine.
"It had been sitting in my bucket for a month and I broke it up, put it in my water bottle and started drinking.”
Things quickly went wrong when the mixture didn’t dissolve properly. Griffin said he began sipping after his second shot on the opening hole, only to swallow a large clump by accident.
“I started drinking after the second shot and I accidentally swallowed one of the big lumps in my water bottle," he continued.
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"I’ve never overdosed on creatine before but I think I did in that moment because I didn’t drink any water afterward. I basically inhaled a snowball of creatine.”
The result was a sudden physical reaction that left him rattled.
“I felt super shaky. I’ve never felt like this before, I literally felt like I had tremors,” Griffin admitted.
Such a start could have ended his hopes entirely, particularly with a coveted spot in the Tour Championship at stake. Yet instead of unravelling further, Griffin found a way to steady himself once the symptoms eased.
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Ben Griffin was 6-over after 3 holes Sunday at the BMW.
— Paul Hodowanic (@PaulHodowanic) August 17, 2025
Why? He said he mistakenly overdosed on creatine.
Let him explain... oh, and @bengriffingolf played the last 15 holes in 7-under by the way. pic.twitter.com/adoQsRTJOB
“It was more about being flustered than anything else,” he said. “By the second shot on the second hole, I felt fine again.”
From there he pieced his round back together in impressive fashion.
He closed his front nine with three straight birdies, then added four more across his final six holes.
The recovery gave him a one-under-par 69, lifting him to three-under for the week and into a tie for 12th, four places higher than where he began the day.
Reflecting afterwards, Griffin said the episode was a lesson in preparation and in how even minor decisions can have major consequences on the course.
“I don’t think I’ll be taking that much creatine in the future,” he admitted.
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“I’ll still use it, but not in the amount I took on the course.
"That definitely wasn’t the healthiest approach."