Ben Griffin’s Wild BMW Championship Story: When Creatine Nearly Derailed a Round

Ever had one of those days where everything that could go wrong, does go wrong? Well, Ben Griffin just lived through every golfer’s nightmare scenario at the BMW Championship, and the culprit was not what you would expect. It wasn’t the pressure of the FedEx Cup Playoffs or even the notoriously tricky Caves Valley Golf Club. Nope, it was a chunky mess of workout supplement that nearly sent his round, and possibly his season, straight into the drink.

Griffin’s Catastrophic Start At the BMW Championship

Picture this: You’re standing on the first tee of one of golf’s biggest tournaments, knowing that your spot in the Tour Championship hangs in the balance. The last thing on your mind should be whether you are about to have a medical emergency from your pre-round supplement routine. But that’s exactly what happened to Griffin on Sunday.

The 29-year-old started his final round by going six-over through just three holes. That’s not a typo, folks. Six. Over. Through. Three. He had a triple-bogey on the opener, followed by more carnage that would make even weekend warriors cringe. But here’s where the story gets absolutely bonkers.

The Creatine Snowball Incident That Shook Griffin

Griffin’s explanation for his disastrous start reads like something out of a comedy sketch, except it was painfully real for the guy living it. He had been taking creatine as a supplement. Plenty of athletes use it for muscle performance. On this particular morning, he discovered his creatine had formed what he described as “basically a snowball” at the bottom of his container after sitting there for about a month.

Being the resourceful golfer he is, Griffin broke up this chunky mess and tossed it into his water bottle. No big deal, right? Wrong. Dead wrong.

“I started taking it after my second shot and I accidentally swallowed one of the big rocks that was in my water bottle,” Griffin explained to reporters afterward. “I’ve never overdosed on creatine before, but I think I did in the moment because I didn’t really drink any water after that. I basically just inhaled like a snowball.”

The Physical Reaction Nearly Ended His Round

What happened next sounds terrifying. Griffin wasn’t just dealing with bad golf shots. His body was rebelling against him in real time. “I started getting super shaky,” he said. “I’ve never felt like this before, and I literally felt like I had tremors.”

Think about that for a second. You are trying to make precise movements with a golf club while your hands are shaking uncontrollably. He four-putted the first hole and sent his tee shot so far out of bounds on the second that he wondered if he might need to withdraw from the tournament entirely. “I remember walking off 1 and walking to 2, and I’m like, am I going to have to withdraw?” Griffin recalled. “I was like, I need to control my body right now. It was a weird thought.”

How His Caddie Saved the Day

Thank goodness for Adam Ritthamel, Griffin’s caddie, who recognized something was seriously wrong with his player. Instead of just offering typical caddie advice like “commit to the shot” or “trust your swing,” Ritthamel forced him to take a seat and reset his entire system. “Probably took too long for pace of play purposes, but took a solid minute and a half and chugged water and reset,” Griffin said. That water bottle might have been the most important shot Griffin took all day. Once his system started to stabilize, the golfer we know began to emerge from the chaos.

A Remarkable Recovery Shows Championship Mettle

Here is where this story transforms from a cautionary tale to an inspiring comeback. After that nightmarish start, he didn’t just steady the ship; he turned it into a rocket. He made three straight birdies to close his front nine, then added four more birdies in his final six holes to shoot 1-under 69 for the round.

“I can’t remember too many times where I’ve been all the way up to 6-over and shot under par in a round,” Griffin said. “That has to got to be up there. Pretty proud of myself.” He should be proud. Playing the final 15 holes in seven-under par after experiencing what he described as tremors is the kind of mental toughness that separates tour pros from the rest of us mere mortals.

Griffin’s Season Continues Despite BMW Scare

Griffin finished the tournament at 3-under par overall, good for a tie for 12th alongside Rory McIlroy and Harris English. More importantly, that finish secured his spot in the Tour Championship, where the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings will battle it out in Atlanta for golf’s biggest payday.

This has been a breakthrough season for Griffin, who picked up his first two PGA Tour victories at the Zurich Classic in April and the Charles Schwab Challenge in May. He also notched top-10 finishes at both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, climbing as high as No. 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Griffin’s Ryder Cup Hopes Still Alive

He entered the BMW Championship sitting ninth in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings, with the automatic qualification period ending this week. While he’ll likely need a captain’s pick from Keegan Bradley to make the team, his ability to overcome adversity, even the bizarre, supplement-induced variety, certainly won’t hurt his case. The Ryder Cup team could use someone who can shake off a disastrous start and still find a way to shoot under par. That is the kind of grit you want when the pressure’s on at Bethpage Black.

Supplement Strategy Gets a Major Adjustment

As for Griffin’s supplement routine moving forward? Let’s just say he’s learned his lesson about proper creatine preparation. “I don’t think I’ll be taking too much creatine in the future,” he said with what we can only imagine was a sheepish grin. “I will take it, but not in the amount that I probably did on the golf course, which wasn’t probably a healthy amount.”

Fair enough. Maybe stick to the recommended dosage and avoid any “snowballs” that have been marinating in your supplement jar for a month. Your nervous system and your golf game will thank you for it. The BMW Championship will be remembered for Scottie Scheffler’s incredible comeback victory, but Griffin’s creatine-fueled roller coaster might just be the story that sticks with fans the longest. After all, it is not every day you hear a professional athlete blame supplement tremors for a four-putt, then proceed to play lights-out golf for the rest of the round.