Nearly every top player in the world — as well as countless amateurs — have played a round at the Old Course at St. Andrews in its 465-year history, but no one has ever played it better than Ross Fisher did on Sunday at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The Old Course has a new course record.@RossFisher signs for a 61. ???? pic.twitter.com/zEvruEpcrC
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 8, 2017
Facing relatively benign conditions at The Home of Golf, Fisher got off to a hot start and was able to string together a few birdies on the back nine to fire an 11-under par 61, besting the previously-held course record of 62.
Will Gray of GolfChannel.com had more on the historic feat.
Ross Fisher torched the Old Course at St. Andrews Sunday during the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, shooting a 61 that broke the previous course record on the oldest course in the world. The effort lifted the Englishman to a runner-up finish, three shots behind Tyrrell Hatton who successfully defended his title.
Fisher opened with a par before birdies on seven of his next eight holes for an outward 29. He added four more birdies on Nos. 12-15 to briefly entertain notions of the first 59 in European Tour history before closing with three straight pars, including an up-and-down from near the road on the iconic 17th hole.
While that didn’t give him a sub-60 total, it was still good enough for the lowest score ever in more than 13,000 professional rounds on the Old Course. It was also 10 shots better than Fisher’s opening round, when he made only two total birdies at St. Andrews.
The previous mark of 62 was first set by Curtis Strange at the 1987 Dunhill Links and matched by Brian Davis in 2003, although the St. Andrews Links Trust later threw those records out when the Old Course was lengthened in advance of the 2010 Open. That year Rory McIlroy shot a 63 in major championship conditions, while six players carded rounds of 62 at the Dunhill from 2012-16, including Hatton last year.
The record serves as a cap on a strong year for Fisher, who tied for third at the WGC-Mexico Championship and made the quarterfinals of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play amid four other top-10s on the European Tour.
For Hatton, successfully defending his title from last year was his second win on the European Tour. Here are the final round highlights.
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