The 154th Open has already cemented itself in the history books.

Ryan Fox became the third player at Royal Birkdale this week to match the major championship scoring record of 62. Interestingly, golf made no sense to him.

After Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns matched the record on Friday, Fox joined the party a day later. However, he felt his preparation for Friday was much better.

“To be honest, I warmed up better yesterday. I was going well yesterday, I was 4-under through 11. I kind of struggled a bit coming home. Golf doesn't make sense like that," Fox said after his third round. "The days sometimes you flush everything on the range and get a little aggressive early, and it doesn't work, and you shoot 2-over, and you're like it felt really good.”

Fox got off to a flying start.

He carded five birdies on the front nine and kept things rolling. On the back nine, he went on to hit four birdies alongside the lone bogey.

As the birdies rolled in, Fox, being aware of the record, started to count on himself to match that. He even thought of going for 61 at one point.

“Yeah, it probably crept into my head on 10, but I wouldn't say it was there. Then when I birdied 14, I was like I've got a chance here," he added, as reported by the New York Post. "To be honest, standing on the last tee, I'm going if I can get one on the fairway here, you can get a wedge or a 9-iron in and have a putt for 61.”

The record-matching score put Fox right back into contention, with an overall score of 8-under.

Let’s find out what Herbert and Burns had to say about their performances.

Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns on matching the championship scoring record

Lucas Herbert, Sam Burns and Ryan Fox equalled Branden Grace’s score of 62, which he also achieved at Royal Birkdale in 2017. Burns had caught himself by surprise.

"I caught myself by surprise," Burns said. "Yeah, I honestly feel like I played a pretty solid round of golf yesterday and then just a terrible finish there on 16, 17, 18. I thought coming into the day if I could get it to red numbers for the golf tournament, that would be a pretty good spot."

Herbert, on the other hand, had the opportunity to one-up Grace’s score. However, he failed to do so after missing a 5-foot par putt. Despite that, he remained positive about his performance.

“I've got a lot of emotions, whether its relief or pride, or disappointment. But I'm in a great position going into the weekend and got my name in the record books,” said Herbert, as mentioned in the interview with BBC Radio 5 Live.

All three remain in serious contention to lift the Claret Jug.

What are your thoughts on Ryan Fox’s performance?  Share them in the comments.

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Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Kalp Thaker