'Bachelor' Matt James Drills Photog With Horrific Tee Shot At Pro-Am Golf Event

Matt James now owes a golf photographer far more than just a bunch of roses ... 'cause the former 'Bachelor' star nailed the dude with an errant tee shot at a Pro-Am event in Arizona on Wednesday, nearly hitting the guy in his family jewels!!!

The hilarious (and terrifying!) scene all went down at the Waste Management Phoenix Open Pro-Am ... when James stepped to the tee box barefoot at the world-famous 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale to try to win some money for charity.

Matt was gunning to be the closest to the pin on the par-3 ... but you can see in the video, he had trouble even getting the ball off the ground.

His first hack was terrible -- he got nothing but grass and dirt -- and then he shanked his second swing so badly, it went 15 yards to the right and drilled a camera guy right in the thigh.

James was super sorry for the miss ... he ran over immediately and gave the guy a hug and offered him the golf ball as an apology souvenir.

The man, meanwhile, said, thankfully, he was OK.

"We came within centimeters of causing some real damage," James said of the shot. "I'm going to try to find him. I'm going to sign this ball for him. And I'm going to take him out to dinner."

Added the photog, "He felt bad. I felt it ... Next year, I'm wearing a cup."

Might be necessary, 'cause James said he intends to come back in 2023 for redemption.