South African golfer Branden Grace seized it to shoot 62 for the round, the first that has ever happened in major championship history.
As a result, Grace went from ho-hum to history. But he putted to inside six feet and made a par that was anything but routine to separate himself from the 31 players in major history – most recently the American Justin Thomas in the third round of last month’s United States Open – who have posted scores of 63.
Grace’s record score came one year after Phil Mickelson nearly became the first to shoot 62 until his birdie putt on the 18th at Royal Troon in the first round swirled around the edge of the cup.
“I honestly didn’t”, he said.
“You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow but I figure I’m going to need to shoot, probably, nine under”. I didn’t know 62 was the lowest ever but now it makes it even more special.
A year ago, Henrik Stenson shot 63 in the final round to win The Open at Royal Troon, and Phil Mickelson shot a first-round 63 on his way to finishing second.
Grace birdied the first and picked up further shots at the fourth and fifth before birdieing eight and nine. 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 14, 16 and 17.
“My whole thing on the 18th was trying just not to make bogey”, Grace said “I hit a great wedge in there, just caught a fly, a little bit of a jumper and made it tough for myself. It was a good day”. Grace, who made the cut by one shot, finished at 4-under 206.
“When you get on a run like that, you stop thinking about golf”.
“The greens are softer, still gettable”, he said. Now it’s time to see what he’ll be able to do on Sunday and whether or not he can push for the Open Championship victory. Moving the tee up, I think, 30 yards on the 5th. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
“Conditions were really hard today, certainly what we expect coming over here”, said the Florida-born Kuchar, whose best finish in a major to date is tied third in the Masters in 2012.