Rolex Series

Genesis Scottish Open history - Brandon Stone's sensational 60

Brandon Stone this week returns to the event where he produced one of the most electrifying rounds in DP World Tour history.

Brandon Stone

At Scotland's national open in 2018, the South African made eight birdies and an eagle in the final round to lift his first Rolex Series title and etch his name into the history books.

Now, as the European Tour group continues to celebrate its 50th anniversary at the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open, we reflect back on that magical Sunday in Gullane.

Stone was already a well established DP World Tour player when he arrived in Scotland in 2018, with two wins under his belt and two finishes in the top 20 of the DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.

Over the next four days he would take his career to the next level but it did not necessarily look that way when he sat seven off the lead after an opening 70.

A 64 on day two was a much better return but he was still seven off the lead, only making progress up the board with a moving-day 66 that got him to ten under with the lead unchanged.

Having started day four three strokes behind, Stone quickly made up two shots on leader Jens Dantorp with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes.

With the scoreboard continually moving throughout the day, Stone then tapped in for a birdie four at the par-five fifth and added another mid-range gain at the ninth to keep within touching distance at 14 under.

A stellar iron-play display underpinned Stone’s round, and he would go on to convert birdie putts at the 10th and 12th holes before rolling in a short one at the 14th to gain a share of the lead with Eddie Pepperell, and another on the 15th to move out on his own for the first time.

It was a lead he built on immediately with a curling eagle putt from 30 feet at the 16th and while he left himself eight feet for a 59 on the last, that particular record would elude him.

Brandon Stone

When he signed for a ten-under par 60, he became just the fourth player in DP World Tour history to win with that score on the final day, following in the footsteps of Jamie Spence, Ian Woosnam and Rafa Cabrera Bello.

“It's incredible,” Stone said at the time. “If I'm going to be brutally honest, I had no idea what my score was until I walked on to the 18th green.

“It was just one of those days where everything went well, hit it great, holed some beautiful putts, and obviously to walk away with 60 having missed an eight-footer was a slight disappointment, but I won't really complain.

“My caddie came up to me and said, 'you don't get putts like this too often', so I let him read it. I said as we walked on the green, 'I'm not reading this one. This is completely up to you'.

“I rolled it over his mark, but he did criticise my pace, he said it lacked a little bit of pace. So he probably is right. Didn't hold its line, but we'll take it."

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