Saturday 15 August 2015 21:25, UK
Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus and Rory McIlroy. Those are just some of the names now joined by Japan’s Hiroshi Iwata as a player to card 63 at a major championship.
Iwata etched his name into the record books at the 97th PGA Championship, becoming the first player since Jason Dufner in 2013 to achieve the feat and the 13th man at the final major of the year.
He began in steady if unspectacular fashion, reaching the turn on two under with three birdies and a solitary bogey at the ninth, but it was his run on the home stretch which etched his name among some of golf’s greats.
"The course conditions are very different from yesterday and today,” Iwata said. “Yesterday the wind was so strong and the green was really hard that I can't stop the ball with my wedges.
Indeed, Iwata’s improved control around the greens was obvious throughout. A putt from 23 feet at the 11th was dispatched with ease as he carded an eagle on the 563-yard par five.
He tapped in from four feet for a gain at the 12th, before sinking a birdie from the edge of the green at 13. With five holes remaining, Iwata required four gains for the right to the overall record and admitted he could see it in his sights.
Birdies at 15, 16 and 17 followed, but Iwata still required a gain at the mammoth 520-yard 18th and eventually had to settle for par.
"On the back nine, after making a birdie at number 13, I was thinking that I'm going to shoot 27,” he added. “I wish I could have just shot one less!"
Iwata, ranked 102 in the world, had failed to make the cut at a major at his previous three attempts but has form of carding 62 having done so at the Thailand Open earlier this year.
"Just one shot different," he quipped, drawing laughter when asked to compare that round to Friday's at Whistling Straits. "Nothing else."
Should the Japan card another 63 this weekend, he would join an even more illustrious group of Vijay Singh and Greg Norman to achieve the record-low score twice at a major.
More importantly, though, Iwata has put himself right in the hunt to lift the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday and said he has his sights set on a strong push this weekend: "When I came here I was thinking just to make my game better and better and on Sunday, I can be in the top 10."
Players to score 63 at a major:
Masters
Nick Price 1986
Greg Norman 1996
US Open
Johnny Miller 1973 – Oakmont
Jack Nicklaus 1980 – Baltusrol
Tom Weiskopf 1980 – Baltusrol
Vijay Singh 2003 – Olympia Fields
British Open
Mark Hayes 1977 – Turnberry
Isao Aoki 1980 – Muirfield
Greg Norman 1986 – Turnbery
Paul Broadhurst 1990 – St Andrews
Jodie Mudd 1991 – Birkdale
Nick Faldo 1993 – Royal St George’s
Payne Stewart 1993 - Royal St George’s
Rory McIlroy 2010 – St Andrews
PGA Championship
Bruce Crampton 1975 – Firestone
Raymond Floyd 1982 – Southern Hills
Gary Player 1984 – Shoal Creek
Vijay Singh 1993 – Inverness
Michael Bradley 1995 – Riviera
Brad Faxon 1995 – Riviera
Jose Maria Olazabal 2000 – Valhalla
Mark O’Meara 2001 – Atlanta Athletic Club
Thomas Bjorn 2005 – Baltusrol
Tiger Woods 2007 – Southern Hills
Steve Stricker 2011 - Atlanta Athletic Club
Jason Dufner 2013 – Oak Hill Country Club
Hiroshi Iwata 2015 – Whistling Straits
