Challenge Tour player cards 37-over

There was nothing superior about Pawel Japol's score of 109 on day one of the the Kharkov Superior Cup on the Challenge Tour today.

Japol, a certified golf teaching professional, carded five bogeys, two doubles, three trebles, one quintuple, a 10 on the par-4 fifth and an unlucky 13 on the par-5 13th culminating in a round of 37-over, see below.

He also carded 25 shots worse than former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko's 12-over 84.

Japol has since, and rather understandably, withdrawn from the tournament.

His round, fortunately for him, was still two shots shy of Mark James’ unwanted European Tour record for holding the worst score of 111 at the 1978 Italian Open. 

Maurice Flitcroft’s round of 49-over at Formby Golf Club in 1976 still stands as the highest ever score in professional golf history, however.

Flitcroft, at the time employed as a crane driver, thought he would get involved with the Open Championship after watching a bit of the game on TV. Only he did not quite realise the standard required. 

To enter as an amateur, he would have to submit a certificate showing he had a handicap of one or less. Luckily for him, professional golfers didn’t have to submit anything, nor did they have to be attached to a club. 

Soon, confirmation arrived by post that Maurice G Flitcroft, 45-year-old professional golfer (unattached), had been chosen to play at Formby Golf Club, near Liverpool, in one of the five qualifying tournaments for the 1976 Open.

Four months later, arriving with minutes to spare and changing from wellies to his tattered golf shoes in the car park, Flitcroft scampered to the first tee just in time to hear his name being announced.

Four hours later, staggering off the 18th green with a score of 121, he realised in order to qualify for the Open, he’d have to compensate for his abysmal round by shooting 13 holes-in-one the next day. It was time to go home.