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Branden Grace made history
on Saturday, 22 July, when he became the first man to
shoot a round of 62 in a major in the third round of the
British Open at Royal Birkdale.
There had been 31 rounds of 63 in the previous 441
major championships, with 10 coming in the British Open,
including Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson last year at
Troon, but never a 62.
The South African's eight-under-par round, featuring
eight birdies and no dropped shots, saw him rocket up
the leaderboard to four under par overall.
Grace, who narrowly made the cut as he sat at four over
par at the tournament's halfway stage, also broke Jodie
Mudd's course record of 63, set in the final round of
the Open in 1991.
But remarkably, Grace insisted he had no idea of what he
was about to achieve as he was heading down the 18th.
"I honestly didn't. You know, I was just so in the zone
of playing, hole after hole," he said at the end of his
round.
"I knew I was obviously playing really well, and making
the turn in five-under was pretty special. And I thought
if I could make a couple more on the back nine, then
it's going to be a great score.
"I had no idea that 62 was the lowest ever."
The 29-year-old from Pretoria, ranked 35th in the world,
has previously had four top-five finishes at majors,
including a third place at the PGA Championship in 2015.
He equalled the record for the lowest-ever round on the
European Tour when he shot a 12-under-par 60 at
Kingsbarns in his 2012 victory at the Alfred Dunhill
Links Championship. ¡V Source:
www.sport24.co.za |
