Ben Griffin got off to a shockingly poor start during the final round of the BMW Championship on Sunday, and many fans were stunned to hear the reason he cited for the struggles.
Griffin has been one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour this season. He entered the BMW Championship hoping to climb into the top six in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings, which would have secured him an automatic spot on the team. Had it not been for a creatine overdose, Griffin might have been able to accomplish that goal.
Griffin began the final round of the BMW Championship with a four-putt from inside of 5 feet. He carded a triple-bogey.
Ben Griffin just 4-putt from inside of 5 feet 💀 pic.twitter.com/rPppY71gKG
— Fore Play (@ForePlayPod) August 17, 2025
Griffin then hit his tee shot at the 2nd hole out of bounds and made a double-bogey there. He bogeyed the 3rd hole before completely turning things around. So what happened early on?
“It’s kind of an interesting story. I take creatine as a supplement, and this morning I didn’t take it until I, basically, teed off on one,” Griffin explained to reporters. “I was at the end of my batch and I had basically like a snowball of creatine. It had been in the bucket for probably like a month. I broke it up and put it in my water bottle and I’m like, ‘Whatever, I’m all good. I’ve taken creatine on the golf course before, it’s fine.’ I started taking it before my second shot and I accidentally swallowed one of the big rocks, kind of, that was in my water bottle.
“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 a snowball. I started getting super shaky, and I’ve never felt like this before and I literally felt like I had tremors. I four-putted one and then on two I was freaking out and didn’t know what to do when I hit it so far out of bounds. Luckily my caddie stepped in and made me chug a whole water and honestly try to calm down a little bit.”
Griffin said he felt fine once he got to the 3rd hole. He did not make another bogey after the 3rd and birdied seven of the last 12 holes to finish 1-under for the day.
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
Griffin finished tied for 12th at the BMW Championship, which is still respectable. He ranks sixth in the FedEx Cup standings and is comfortably inside the top 30, meaning he will be part of the field at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga., this week. The PGA Tour has eliminated the starting-strokes format for the Tour Championship this week, so the entire field will begin at even par.
The Tour Championship does not factor into the Ryder Cup standings, so Griffin is locked into 9th place in the U.S. rankings. He still has a chance to be selected by Keegan Bradley as a captain’s pick, though that situation has the potential to become very complicated.
