It is worth noting that, while the PGA Tour was founded in 1929, recording hole-by-hole scores did not become a matter of course until 1983. Nevertheless, the record high score on a par-4 hole was 16, achieved by Korean American professional Kevin Na on the 474-yard ninth hole on The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio during the 2011 Texas.
On April, 2014, during the first round, Na drove into the trees on the right of the ninth and, having deemed his ball unplayable, took a stroke and distance penalty and returned to the tee. Lo and behold, his second attempt landed in almost identical spot, 10 yards into the trees, albeit in a barely playable, stony lie. Playing four, Na moved his next shot less than six feet and, to add insult to injury, his ball richoted off a tree and struck him, costing hime a further penalty stroke.
Another unplayable lie cost him yet another penalty stroke, his seventh shot again richoted around in the trees and his eighth, a left-handed air shot, was followed by four more fruitless attempts before he finally made solid contact. When he did, he moved his ball fully 48yards, albeit into primary rough, after 13 shots, alhtough caddie Kenny Harms confessed, ‘I have no idea what you have’, on the walk to the green. Following review, it turned out that an approach shot, plus two putts – including a missable five-footer – made a 12-over-par total of 16 strokes or, in other words, a duodecuple bogey.
Na later joked, ‘…maybe I should give it a fist pump when I made that five-footer; it could have been a 17.’ Certainly his record high score did not adversely affect career because, on October 2, 2011, he won his first PGA Tour event, the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas with a record low 72-hole total of 261 (23 under par).