South Africa’s Grace sets record low score for major championship
‘That’s as good as I can ask for,’ American star says
SOUTHPORT, England — Branden Grace posted the lowest 18-hole score in 157 years and 422 major championships, and he didn’t even know it.
Grace knocked in his short par putt on the final hole for a 62 in the third round of the British Open at Royal Birkdale on Saturday when his caddie, Zack Rasego, walked up to him and said: “You’re in the history books.”
Grace didn’t know what he meant. The 29-year-old South African was so locked in on a flawless round that he wasn’t even aware of the scoring record. Grace was only thinking about trying to get through the third round without a bogey.
“I had no idea that a 62 was obviously the lowest ever,” Grace said. “Now it makes it even more special than what it was.”
Grace pounced on a serene day that was ideal for scoring at Royal Birkdale with a 29 on the front nine. After a lull to start the back nine, he resumed his march with a 36-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th, a birdie putt from just inside 30 feet on No. 16, then he moved to 8 under on his round by hitting 3-iron onto the green at the par-5 17th for a two-putt birdie.
From about 60 feet behind the 18th green, he rolled a beautiful lag to two feet and tapped in for the record.
Johnny Miller shot his famous 63 in the final round at Oakmont in 1973 to win the U.S. Open. Since then, 28 players posted a 63 in the majors 30 times, most recently by Justin Thomas in the U.S. Open last month at Erin Hills. No one got lower — until Grace.
“Look at that number — that is sweet,” Miller, now a golf analyst, said as NBC flashed a 62 on the screen.
With his name in the record book, still to be determined was whether he had a chance to add his name to the Claret Jug. Grace, who made the cut by one shot, finished at 4-under 206.
Front-runner Jordan Spieth shot a 65 and the day ended with Grace seven shots off the lead.
Grace wasn’t the only player to take advantage. Fifteen players shot 66 or better.
“There’s a lot of spots you want to keep out of on this golf course,” Grace said.
“And I did it today.”
SOUTHPORT, England — Jordan Spieth is one round away from the third leg of the career Grand Slam, and one year removed from a reminder that it won’t be easy.
On the horizon is a chance to join Jack Nicklaus as the only players to have won three different majors at age 23. In the past is the last time he was leading a major, when he let a five-shot lead get away from him on the back nine at Augusta National a year ago. All that mattered to Spieth on Saturday was the present.
Spieth did his part on an extraordinary day of scoring in the British Open, capping off his 5-under 65 by seizing on a good break and making a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a threeshot lead over Matt Kuchar, who did his best to keep pace with a 66.
Spieth had one of seven rounds at 65 or lower at Royal Birkdale, which was never more vulnerable with a light breeze and a clear sky until the final hour.
Spieth delivered his second bogey-free round of the week.
“On a Saturday with a lead in a major, that’s as good as I can ask for,” he said afterward.
Spieth was at 11-under 199, breaking by six shots the 54-hole record at Royal Birkdale set by Tom Watson in 1983. Not only did that last birdie give Spieth a three-shot lead, no one else was closer than six shots.
It is the third time Spieth has led into the final round of a major. He led by four at the Masters two years ago and won by that margin. More recent was a one-shot lead at Augusta to start the final round, a five-shot lead at the turn and a quadruple-bogey on the 12th hole that cost him another green jacket.
“I think I’m in a position where it can be very advantageous, just everything I’ve gone through — the good, the bad and everything in the middle,” Spieth said. “I understand that leads can be squandered quickly. And I also understand how you can keep on rolling on one.”
He described the Masters last year as a humbling experience that he thought would serve him well down the road.
“If I don’t win [today], it has nothing to do with that,” he said. “And if I win [today], it has nothing to do with that, either.”
Kuchar never quite caught up to Spieth. He twice made birdies that momentarily tied him for the lead, only for Spieth to pour in birdie putts on top of him to stay in front. Kuchar’s one slip was a drive into the pot bunker on No. 16 when the rain finally arrived, and a three-putt that led to double bogey.
Kuchar, 39, will be playing in the final group of the fourth round at a major for the first time and he sounded up for the occasion.
“It’s not that I ever felt like I was playing Jordan,” Kuchar said. “We had a great round of golf. I never felt like I was out there trying to beat Jordan. It’s trying to go up against Royal Birkdale and put on the best show you can against the golf course.”
Austin Connelly, a dual Canadian-American citizen who grew up in Dallas and shares a swing coach with Spieth, extended his remarkable run with birdies on his last two holes for a 66. The 20year-old who plays under the Canadian flag was six shots behind at 5-under 205, tied with U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, who had a 68.
Rory McIlroy began with three birdies in five holes, but lost it around the turn, making back-toback bogeys, and then a double bogey at No. 10. He ended nine shots behind.