It took 128 years for a golfer to shoot the first 62 in a U.S. Open.
The second instance came about 20 minutes later.
Moments after Rickie Fowler broke the U.S. Open single-round scoring record with an eight-under 62, Xander Schauffele matched him with a 62 of his own.
According to stat guru Justin Ray, Fowler’s round was the 47,366th in the history of the U.S. Open. Schauffele played just two groups behind Fowler on Thursday, with just one threesome separating the two historic rounds.
The pair’s rounds are just the second and third rounds of 62 in major championship history. Brendan Grace posted the first just six years ago during the third round of the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
While Fowler made a record 10 birdies (with two bogeys) on Thursday, Schauffele, the No. 6 player in the world, was bogey-free as he recorded eight birdies.
His chance to shoot the record low round might have been jeopardized, however, when he drove into the barranca short of the 6th green. He failed to get up and down for birdie on the drivable par-4, which was one of the easiest holes on the course in Round 1.
However, he followed the missed opportunity with a birdie on the 258-yard par-3 7th after he knocked his tee shot to six feet. He birdied the subsequent par-5 to reach eight under for the day.
However, with a chance to post the first 61 in major history, Schauffele left his birdie try on his final hole, the 9th, some four feet short.
With a duo of 62s, Schauffele and Fowler hold a sizable lead on the rest of the field midway through Round 1, with Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Si Woo Kim holding the next-best scores in the clubhouse at 67.
No other golfer was on the golf course at better than three under when Schauffele finished. As the morning wave was wrapped up, the field scoring average was 71.6.
It’s not every day you get to witness history — and it’s even more rare that it happens twice.
