Bryson DeChambeau presented a Masters patron with one of his golf balls after striking them with an errant drive. The two-time US Open champion mishit his tee shot so badly that it struck a bystander positioned on the side of the hole.

DeChambeau, 32, bogeyed the second and birdied the third to sit at even par entering hole six. Fortunately for him, the ball bounced back into play off the patron, and he managed to get it up and down to salvage par. The American subsequently made a point of seeking out the spectator and after having walked over, DeChambeau presented them with a golf ball by way of apology.

He escaped lightly on that occasion, but everything fell apart at the 11th hole. A triple bogey after requiring three shots to escape the greenside bunker left him three-under.

Matters then deteriorated further for DeChambeau over the closing three holes, with bogeys on 16 and 18. A birdie sandwiched between those two blows meant he finished four-over par and nine strokes adrift of the lead.

Following his round, DeChambeau remarked that the 11th “bunker was softer than I anticipated”. Before that, “the ball flew 12 yards farther” than he had intended, yet he still believes he “had a good shot”.

Casting his eye towards Friday, the American is “just going to give what the golf course gives” him. DeChambeau said: “I have to try to hit my irons better; I drove it left numerous occasions.

“Did a great job on 18, wind didn’t hurt it as we thought, and that’s this game, that’s the golf course. You know, everybody has an ability for weird things to happen, and today I just did not have my irons under control, which is weird; it’s been good coming into it.”

DeChambeau made use of a 3D printed 5-iron during the round, though he stopped short of attributing any blame to the new club. “It was great on seven,” DeChambeau said,” hit a good second shot, wind didn’t hit it off the left. Irons are still something I have to work on.”

Elaborating on the process, he explained that it: “Prints in eight hours. Machines, they’re three or four hours, then you have to cut grooves in it and do a bunch of other stuff, so you can have something within a day and a half.” He added: “It has to be USGA-conforming, there’s a whole process you have to go through.”