01전설적인 링크스 코스에서 탄생한 역대 최고의 기록들
알프레드 던힐 링크스 챔피언십은 세인트 앤드루스 올드 코스, 카누스티, 킹스반스까지 스코틀랜드를 대표하는 세 곳의 명문 링크스 코스에서 번갈아 진행되는 독특한 형식을 취한다. 각 코스는 저마다의 난이도와 깊은 역사를 자랑하며, 이곳에서 세워진 코스 레코드는 DP 월드 투어 역사상 가장 정교한 샷의 결과물로 평가받는다.
'골프의 고향'이라 불리는 세인트 앤드루스 올드 코스의 공식 코스 레코드는 11언더파 61타다. 이는 2017년 로스 피셔가 처음 작성했으며, 지난 2023년 맷 피츠패트릭이 다시 한번 61타를 몰아치며 공동 기록 보유자로 이름을 올렸다. 특히 피츠패트릭은 이 놀라운 기록을 발판 삼아 해당 연도 우승컵까지 들어 올리는 기염을 토했다.
가장 까다로운 코스로 손꼽히는 카누스티의 최저타 기록은 2017년 토미 플릿우드가 기록한 62타다. 한편, 아름다운 풍광을 자랑하는 킹스반스에서는 2012년 브랜든 그레이스가 무려 60타를 기록하며 대회 역사상 단일 라운드 최저타 기록을 보유하고 있다. 이 기록들은 스코틀랜드 특유의 변덕스러운 바닷바람과 거친 링크스 환경을 완벽하게 극복해낸 선수들의 위대함을 증명한다.
02Original (English) — DP World Tour
What are the course records at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and The Old Course, St Andrews? They've all been set by golfers at The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
As the tournament celebrates its 25th edition this week, we take a closer look at the records set over the last two and a half decades.
The Open may have been hosted at the Old Course at St Andrews and Carnoustie on several occasions, but it’s the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship where their course records have been set.
With the addition of Kingsbarns, it’s a tournament that has seen sensational rounds of golf produced throughout the years. From Branden Grace’s 60 at Kingsbarns - matched a year later by Peter Uihlein - to Tommy Fleetwood's 63 at Carnoustie and Ross Fisher recording the first 61 at St Andrews (which has been matched twice since), the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship seems to get the best out of its players. Here, we take a closer look at those incredible rounds.
In a season where he claimed four DP World Tour titles, South African Branden Grace also equalled the course record with a round of 60 at Kingsbarns to lead after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2012.
He knocked off two strokes from Lee Westwood's mark thanks to an eagle and ten birdies - five of them in a row to finish his round.
Starting on the tenth, Grace birdied the tenth, 11th and 12th holes before his eagle came on the 565 yard 16th, his seventh, and took him to five under to go out in 31.
But it was the first half of the course and his back nine where he came alive, with birdies on the first and third holes and then a five-hole birdie-run to end his round with an outward 29. He had come to the 558 yard ninth needing an eagle for the 59, but pushed his second wide before pitching to a foot and holing for a closing birdie to secure his name in the record books.
Grace went on to post further rounds of 67 (The Old Course), 69 (Carnoustie) and 70 (The Old Course) to secure a two stroke victory and his fourth win of the season.
A year after Grace achieved the course record, American Peter Uihlein equalled it with a 60 of his own, narrowly missing a long eagle putt on his final hole for a 59.
The same year he won his maiden title in Madeira, Uihlein started on the back nine at Kingsbarns and followed a birdie at the 11th with an eagle on the 12th. Two more gains came at the 17th and 18th to reach the turn in 31 - exactly same score as Grace had posted the year prior.
Making a birdie at the second, Uihlein then recorded his second eagle of the day at the third and produced back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh holes before two-putting for par at the eighth. Trying to take advantage of the par five finishing hole, Uihelin made the green in two, but his long-range effort slid just past the hole as he settled for the 17th round of 60 in the history of the DP World Tour.
He would go on to lose in a play-off to David Howell.
Pushing Tyrrell Hatton all the way, Ross Fisher finished as the runner-up for a second year in a row after he claimed history on Sunday at The Old Course, St Andrews with the first ever 61.
Fisher made four birdies in a row from the second, rolled in a huge putt on the seventh, a 15-footer on the eighth and took advantage of the short ninth to turn in 29.
More smart approach play brought Fisher birdies on the 12th and 13th and when he took advantage of the par five 14th and holed a ten-footer on the next, there was talk of a first DP World Tour 59 in the galleries.
While Hatton remained out in front, the focus was on the five-time winner, who did well to save par on the 17th and left himself an eagle putt out of the Valley of Sin for that 59. He ended up three-putting for par and a 61, setting a new record that remains unbeaten but has since been matched twice: by Romain Langasque in 2022, and by Hatton in 2024 on his way to a third victory in this event.
Romain Langasque equalled the course record at the Old Course after producing a remarkable burst of scoring in the closing stages of his first-round 61 to lead the 2022 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by one shot.
The Frenchman started at the tenth tee and went out in 33 before coming home in 28 - having covered the final six holes in seven under - to match Fisher's record at the historic venue.
Langasque got off to a disappointing start, carding a bogey at the short 11th after missing the green with his tee-shot but he bounced back in style, driving the 12th green before rolling in his 52-foot putt for a magnificent eagle.
After holing a lengthy birdie putt at the 14th, he saved par from more than ten feet on the 17th green before closing his front nine with another birdie at the 18th.
He birdied the second to move to four under par, then picked up another shot from six feet at the fourth, and a second eagle of the day arrived from more than 40 feet at the fifth before four successive birdies earned him a share of the course record.
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On his way to a third victory in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Hatton made history by posting a record-equalling 61 with an eagle and nine birdies to take a one-shot lead into the final round.
Starting the day three shots off the lead after opening rounds of 65 and 68 at Carnoustie and Kingsbarns respectively, Hatton produced a brilliant burst of scoring on the front nine to grab a share of the lead after six holes.
He kicked off his round with back-to-back pars before holing from around nine feet for birdies at the third and fourth. The Ryder Cup star then holed an eagle putt from 11 feet on the long fifth before making another birdie at the sixth. Chasing Nicolas Colsaerts, Hatton made four birdies on the spin from the 12th to get within one of the lead, finishing with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th to join Fisher in the history books and lead heading into the fourth round.
In the year where Fleetwood became Race to Dubai Champion, won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the HNA Open de France and welcomed son Frankie to the world, he also broke a 23-year-old course record at Carnoustie Golf Links during Friday's session of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The nine-under-par round meant Fleetwood bettered the 64 set by former Scottish professional, Alan Tait, back in 1994 which was subsequently matched by eight others, including Colin Montgomerie, Paul Lawrie and Alex Noren.
He got off to a solid start with three birdies on the opening six holes, including a birdie on the difficult Hogan’s Alley, but it wasn’t until the back nine where Fleetwood’s round really took off. Five birdies in a row came from the 11th to the 15th, highlighted by two long-putts at the 11th and 13th and hitting the pin with his approach at 15. After pars at 16 and 17, a great approach to the 18th green left a 12-foot putt to secure the course record.
*During the third round 2014 of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Robert-Jan Derksen recorded a 63 at Carnoustie, but it was preferred lies at the time and does not count as an official record.