Firm conditions with almost zero wind once again left Royal Birkdale defenseless to the world's best players Saturday.
Ryan Fox became the latest to take advantage at the Open Championship, blitzing the course with nine birdies early to match the lowest round in major history with an 8-under 62.
It's the third 62 at Birkdale in the last 36 hours after Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns posted that number in Round 2.
"I think it's just the good weather conditions," Fox said. "The course is brilliant. It's obviously very firm and fast. In the mornings the greens are a little bit softer. Obviously we had pretty much no wind until the last couple of holes today. You feel like you can shoot a score in the morning and the greens are perfect, that if you do roll it well, you feel like you hole everything."
Fox's 62 is the eighth in men's major championship history and saw him fly up the leaderboard to match Herbert at 8-under. His round came while playing alongside Xander Schauffele, who is the only man to shoot 62 twice in a major.
A quality round of golf is sometimes set up by a strong practice session, but that wasn't the case for Fox on Saturday.
"To be honest, I warmed up better yesterday," Fox admitted. "Golf doesn't make sense like that. The days sometimes you flush everything on the range and get a little aggressive early, and it doesn't work, and you shoot 2-over, and you're like it felt really good."
It's unlikely Fox's round will be enough to keep a share of top spot with the final groups just hitting the course. However, he will certainly be a factor on Sunday at The Open after his record-tying day.
