Ryan Fox matches major championship record with a 62 in the British Open

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Ryan Fox added his name Saturday to the growing list of players who share the major championship scoring record when he became the third player this week with a record-tying 62 in the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

Fox started early with barely a trace of wind, and he took advantage. The New Zealander made five birdies on the front nine, and birdied two of his last three holes for a 62 on the par-70 Birkdale links. Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns each had 62 some 20 minutes apart on Friday.

More than his name in the record book, Fox now has a shot at his first major.

With stronger wind in the afternoon and tough pin positions, he wound up two shots behind Burns (65) going into the final round. Herbert, who had a 36-hole lead, shot 71 and was three shots behind. Xander Schauffele at the 2024 PGA Championship is the only player with a 62 in a major who went on to win.

There now have been eight rounds of 62 in major championship history, half of them at Royal Birkdale. Branden Grace was the first to set the record with a 62 at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

Fox was in a pot bunker off the fairway on the 18th and still managed to find the green, leaving a birdie putt of nearly 50 feet for a 61. He left it short by about 5 feet and holed the par putt.

“When I got to 6 under through 14 I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got a chance.’ I would have liked to give myself a birdie chance at the last, but happy to make par,” Fox said.

He played alongside Schauffele, the only player with 62 twice in a major. Schauffele and Rickie Fowler each shot 62 in the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club — like Herbert and Burns, they were playing two groups apart — and Schauffele and Shane Lowry each shot 62 in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Haeran Ryu set the record in women’s majors last week with a 60 in the final round of the Evian Championship, which has yielded all the top scores in LPGA majors since it was designated one 13 years ago.

The links have rarely been this brown and fast, but it’s the wind — or lack of it — that has allowed for such low scoring this week.

Fox, one of the strongest players in golf with his rugby heritage, leaned on his driver for much of the round and set up good scoring chances.

“The game plan was to be aggressive,” Fox said. “I was aggressive on a lot of good wedge shots. Pretty happy with 62 at the end.”

All but one of his nine birdies — Fox made his lone bogey on the 13th with a drive into a pot bunker — came from about 10 feet or closer. His drive on the 321-yard fifth hole was about 30 feet from the hole, and his most important shot was a wedge from the rough on the par-5 17th that rolled out to about 4 feet.

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Herbert also had a bogey on his card during his 62 on Friday.

There have been weeks of soft conditions or little wind — two elements that lead to low scores — at previous majors. Seven major courses — three of them links courses — have yielded two rounds of 63 or lower in the same championship.

Royal Birkdale is the first to give up three of them — with half of the field Saturday and the final round still to come.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf