[Kim Maengnyeong's Golf English Conversation] "An Byeonghun and Ok Tuple Bogey"

Byung-Hun An recorded an octuple bogey with 11 strokes, 8 over par, on the 17th hole during the first day of The Players Championship, known as the "fifth major."

‘Octuple-bogey’.

This is about the PGA Tour’s ‘fifth major,’ The Players Championship, which ended on the 15th. The Golf Channel reported, "South Korean golfer Byeong-Hun An cards octuple-bogey on infamous 17th TPC par 3 hole" at the notorious 17th hole (par 3) of TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on the first day.

The subtitle read, "No matter how famous the player, a disaster can happen if you let your guard down." Byeong-Hun An’s tee shot went into the water four times, resulting in an 8-over-par 11 to finish the hole. The biggest victim was Bob Tway (USA), who shot a nonuple-bogey (9-over-par 12) on the same hole during the third round in 2005.

Korean golfers are not familiar with scoring terms that use Latin prefixes for triple or higher, which is why it’s hard to understand immediately. The term ‘tuple’ comes from mathematics, meaning a finite ordered list (sequence) of elements. Octuple combines the Latin prefix for the number 8, ‘oct,’ with ‘tuple.’

For reference, an octopus, which has eight legs, is called ‘octopus’ in English. Scores can be abbreviated: quadruple bogey (4-over-par) is ‘quad,’ quintuple bogey (5-over-par) is ‘quint,’ sextuple bogey (6-over-par) is ‘sex,’ septuple bogey (7-over-par) is ‘sept,’ octuple bogey (8-over-par) is ‘oct,’ nonuple bogey (9-over-par) is ‘non,’ and decuple bogey (10-over-par) is ‘deck.’

A: What was your score on the par-three 17th?

B: I got an octuple-bogey 11.

A: What is an octuple-bogey in golf?

B: An ‘octuple-bogey’ is a score of eight-over par on an individual hole of the golf course. Hopefully you don’t actually break clubs after an octuple-bogey.

Written by Kim Maeng-nyeong, Golf Columnist