Reining U.S. and Australian Masters champion Adam Scott has dropped well off the pace after the opening round of the World Cup of Golf. He had a disastrous quintuple bogey nine at the par-4 No. 12 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club to thank for that.

Seeming unbeatable heading into this week’s $8 million tournament after back-to-back victories in his homeland of Australia, Scott was expected to capture the individual crown and partner with Jason Day to capture the team portion.

As expected, Scott, the No. 2-ranked golfer in the world, started his round off solidly in tough, windy conditions to shoot a respectable 1-under 34 after nine holes. But things turned ugly very quickly for the Australian at the innocuous 440-yard par-4 No. 12.

He pushed his drive way right of the fairway into a thick bunch of bushes, so he opted to hit a provision ball. His provisional tee shot also headed way right and ended up being deemed unplayable. Unable to find his original tee shot he was forced to return to the tee and reload for a third time. His official fifth shot landed into the right rough and then hit his approach shot (sixth shot) over the back of the green. Scott then chipped up to about 12 feet and then watched his putt for an eight slide agonizingly by on the high side.

“It was a couple of lazy swings and I paid the price,” he said. “[I was] just away with the fairies on that hole.”

His score of nine is his single worst hole in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event since he posted a 10 at the WGC tournament at Doral Golf Resort in 2007.

To his credit he did fight back and made a birdie at the next hole but was unable to continue the resurgence and had another bogey on No. 15. He eventually finished with a 4-over 75 leaving him nine strokes behind leaders Kevin Streelman and Thomas Bjorn.

Despite a busy schedule since arriving back home with media and golfing commitments, Scott offered no excuses and was otherwise satisfied with his round.

“Could be [fatigue], but, you know, it was a little disappointing to do that but stuff can happen and that’s why when you play good tracks like this you need to be switched on at all times and I paid the price today,” he said. “…Other than that, I was fairly solid.”

At least we know Adam Scott is human after all.