The story and its setting
A course record is meaningful only when its scope is clear. A low round at The Open is a record within that championship; it is not automatically the lowest score ever returned on the same property. Different events can use different tees, pars, hole orders and conditions. This guide follows records explicitly recognised by the championship organisers and keeps the competition attached to every number. It does not attempt to rank every club's unrestricted playing record.
Read the label before the number
There are several questions to ask of any course-record claim. Was the score made in the championship, in qualifying or during another tournament? Does it refer to eighteen holes, a nine-hole stretch or a four-round aggregate? Was the course later rebuilt? Is the number an outright record or a share of an existing one? Without those details, an impressive total can become a misleading comparison.
The Old Course at St Andrews gives a particularly clear example. The R&A lists sixty-three as the lowest round there in The Open, achieved by Paul Broadhurst in 1990 and Rory McIlroy in 2010. The DP World Tour records Ross Fisher's sixty-one during the 2017 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Both statements can be correct because they describe different competitions. Replacing one with the other would make the record less accurate, not more current.
The table therefore identifies its competition and treats selected historical performances as such. It distinguishes an Open-championship low from a score recognised in another event. A named performance is included because an organiser explicitly recorded its status, not because a player's ordinary scorecard or an unsourced course directory used the word record. Source: The R&A's Open venue records; DP World Tour: Fisher's Old Course record.
| Venue | Score | Player and year | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Andrews Old Course | 63 | Paul Broadhurst 1990; Rory McIlroy 2010 | Lowest round in The Open |
| Royal Birkdale | 62 | Branden Grace 2017; Lucas Herbert, Sam Burns, Ryan Fox 2026 | Lowest round in The Open; all four shared holders through 2026 |
| Royal Liverpool | 63 | Jon Rahm 2023 | Lowest round in The Open at Hoylake |
| Royal Portrush | 63 | Shane Lowry 2019 | Lowest round in The Open at Portrush |
| Royal Troon | 63 | Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson 2016 | Lowest round in The Open at Troon |
| St Andrews Old Course | 61 | Ross Fisher 2017 | Course-record round in the Alfred Dunhill Links; subsequently matched |
| Évian Resort | 61 | Hyo Joo Kim 2014 | Championship record when made; later matched |
Royal Birkdale’s 62s: The R&A’s specific lowest-score account includes Branden Grace in 2017 and Lucas Herbert, Sam Burns and Ryan Fox in 2026. Some older aggregate panels omit the latest holder; this table uses the event-specific account.
Birkdale's record and its 2026 update
Branden Grace's sixty-two in the third round at Royal Birkdale in 2017 was the first round below sixty-three in a men's major. His place in that history remains secure, but the list of holders changed in 2026. Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns both shot sixty-two in the second round, followed by Ryan Fox in the third. The R&A's updated lowest-rounds article includes all four.
This is an example of why the date of a record check matters. An older official article can correctly describe the record at publication while no longer naming every later player who has equalled it. Reuters independently reported the three 2026 rounds, and the PGA TOUR carried the Associated Press account of Fox joining the group. The newer dated championship account is used where an older venue-summary line omits a later holder. Source: updated official record; independent cross-check; PGA TOUR/AP report.
Hoylake and Portrush: two championship Saturdays
Jon Rahm returned a sixty-three in the third round of the 2023 Open at Royal Liverpool. The R&A records it as the lowest eighteen-hole score in the championship at Hoylake, two strokes below the previous mark. His final result was tied second, a reminder that a course-record round does not necessarily produce the week's champion.
Shane Lowry's sixty-three at Royal Portrush in 2019 had a different outcome. It helped him move four shots clear before he went on to win. The R&A explicitly places it after Portrush's remodelling in 2016. That detail matters when comparing the score with earlier golf on the property: a changed course can carry a different record history even while its name and wider location remain the same.
These rounds are useful landmarks for a visit because they connect particular championship performances to the courses you can see. They are less useful as a claim that one venue is inherently easier than the other. The player's position, weather, set-up and the rest of the field all belong to the context. Source: official accounts of both records.
Troon: a round and an aggregate
Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson both shot sixty-three at Royal Troon in 2016. Stenson's final round formed part of a winning total of 264, twenty under par. The R&A's championship account records a three-stroke victory over Mickelson. These are two separate types of achievement: an eighteen-hole low and the total required to win across four rounds.
It is tempting to describe any record total as a course record, but that wording loses precision. The aggregate belongs to the entire championship, while the sixty-three describes a single round. When following the famous Stenson–Mickelson duel, retain both. They explain why the contest mattered statistically without suggesting that one number measures every aspect of the performance. Source: official 2016 championship account.
Évian's sixty-one and the danger of outdated superlatives
Hyo Joo Kim began the 2014 Evian Championship with a ten-under-par sixty-one. The LPGA's contemporary review explicitly recognised it as a major-championship scoring landmark. Later LPGA course notes list Jeongeun Lee 6's second round and Leona Maguire's final round in 2021 alongside it as sixty-ones. Kim's achievement should therefore be described as the original record performance, rather than the only such round ever played at the venue.
As with the Birkdale example, a historic report and a current list do different jobs. The original report establishes what happened and how it was recognised at the time; a later record book identifies subsequent equals. Keeping both prevents an old superlative becoming an inaccurate present-tense claim. Source: Kim's 2014 record; later LPGA record notes.
Following the records on a trip
Choose a record that interests you, then read the course history and the relevant championship account before arriving. A single low round can supply an engaging route into a venue, but it cannot explain its entire design. Check whether the modern routing differs, distinguish the competition tees from visitor tees and keep historical results separate from current admission information. The venue guides supply the practical arrangements; the history pages explain why a particular performance remains attached to that ground.
A score relative to par is another separate measure. Sixty-three on a par-seventy-two course is nine under; the same total on a par-seventy course is seven under. Raw strokes and relative-to-par totals answer different questions, so neither should be substituted for the other in a record list. Check the championship's stated par for the year being discussed before drawing that comparison.
The year is especially important after a rebuild. A record on an earlier routing remains a genuine historical performance even if a redesigned course subsequently keeps a separate record. Preserve the achievement and its original description rather than transferring the number automatically to the later layout.
Sources and useful official links
- Confirmed: Source: The R&A's Open venue records
- Confirmed: DP World Tour: Fisher's Old Course record
- Confirmed: Source: updated official record
- Reported: independent cross-check
- Confirmed: PGA TOUR/AP report
- Confirmed: Source: official accounts of both records
- Confirmed: Source: official 2016 championship account
- Confirmed: Source: Kim's 2014 record
- Confirmed: later LPGA record notes
- Confirmed: Course and championship history
- Confirmed: Course and championship history
- Confirmed: Course and championship history
- Confirmed: Course and championship history
- Reported: Course and championship history
- Confirmed: Course and championship history
- Confirmed: Course and championship history
- Confirmed: Course and championship history
- Confirmed: Course and championship history
Useful reading for your visit
Visit today
- St Andrews Old Course visitor guide
- The Open 2027 at St Andrews
- Where to stay for The Open 2027 at St Andrews
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