The major championships for 2016 are done and dusted (or Danny and Dustin, if you like, as regards the first two) earlier than usual this season because of golf’s participation in the Olympic Games. More about that in a fortnight, but let’s reflect here on what three men did in 2016 and which had happened as many as 27 time before. That is, to shoot 63 in a major championship.
The 2016 threesome, taking the total to 30, were Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Robert Streb. There have been 28 golfers involved in compiling that number: Greg Norman and Vijay Singh have each done it twice. Seven of the 30 went on to win the championship in question (see the table below): Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd, Norman (in 1986), Tiger Woods, Jason Dufner and Stenson. Of those seven, the only two to ride their 63 to victory in the final round were Miller, the first man to shoot that score, and Stenson, who would have been the most recent had Streb not cropped up.
After Streb’s second-round 63 last month in the USPGA Championship at Baltusrol (the scene of two 63s in 1980 and one in 2005), Mickelson, noting the generous scoring conditions – smooth greens with the receptivity of a dartboard – said: “There is a 61 or 62 out there.”
But, so far, there never has been. Phil had come agonisingly close himself at Troon a fortnight before, his putt for a 62 looking in all the way until an invisible gopher, as if in Caddyshack, popped out of the cup to deflect the ball away. That’s the only explanation I can offer as to why it didn’t go in. Tiger had come as close with his putt for a 62 at Southern Hills in 2007, in his case the ball taking a horseshoe rather than the drop. But closest of all may have been Greg in the 1986 Open at Turnberry. Despite having had two bogeys, he stood on the 18th tee needing a par-four for a 62. He had a 10-yard putt for a 61. He three-putted it. Some things are just not meant to be. Maybe this one never will be?
THAT 63 ROLL CALL
Johnny Miller, final round 1973 US Open
Bruce Crampton, second round 1975 USPGA
Mark Hayes, second round 1977 Open
Tom Weiskopf, first round 1980 US Open
Jack Nicklaus, first round 1980 US Open
Isao Aoki, third round 1980 Open
Raymond Floyd, first round 1982 USPGA
Gary Player, second round 1984 USPGA
Nick Price, third round 1986 Masters
Greg Norman, second round 1986 Open
Paul Broadhurst, third round 1990 Open
Jodie Mudd, final round 1991 Open
Nick Faldo, second round 1993 Open
Payne Stewart, final round 1993 Open
Vijay Singh, second round 1993 USPGA
Michael Bradley, first round 1995 USPGA
Brad Faxon, final round 1995 USPGA
Greg Norman, first round 1996 Masters
José Maria Olazábal, third round 2000 USPGA
Mark O’Meara, second round 2001 USPGA
Vijay Singh, second round 2003 US Open
Thomas Bjorn, third round 2005 USPGA
Tiger Woods, second round 2007 USPGA
Rory McIlroy, first round 2010 Open
Steve Stricker, first round 2011 USPGA
Jason Dufner, second round 2013 USPGA
Hiroshi Iwata, second round 2015 USPGA
Phil Mickelson, first round 2016 Open
Henrik Stenson, final round 2016 Open
Robert Streb, second round 2016 USPGA
Robert Green’s ‘Seve: Golf’s Flawed Genius’ is available on Amazon. You can follow him on Twitter @robrtgreen