Ernie Els three-putts from one foot on Thursday at the British Open

It's pretty easy to lose your composure at a major championship, it just normally doesn't happen on the first hole on a Thursday.

That was the case with Ernie Els, who made a triple-bogey on his first hole of this British Open. The 2002 and 2012 Open champion three-putted from just outside a foot on the opening hole at Royal Liverpool to card a triple-bogey after his tee shot hit a spectator.

The loss of focus for a second reminded us of Charl Schwartzel's four-putt at the 2011 Deutsche Bank Championship, and things didn't get much better for Els after this, adding two more bogeys over his next five holes to sit at 5-over after five holes on a day where the scoring hasn't been much of an issue.

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Shane Bacon is the editor of Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shanebaconblogs@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter at @ShaneBacon!