Ryan Fox shoots 62 to make more Major history at Birkdale

Ryan Fox became the third player in two days to shoot a men's Major Championship record-equalling 62 to vault up the leaderboard on day three at The 154^th Open.

The New Zealander made nine birdies and one bogey to reach eight under, and join the overnight leader Lucas Herbert, before the final groups began their rounds at Royal Birkdale on Saturday.

Fox is the seventh different player to card a 62 in one of golf's four men's marquee championships after Herbert and Sam Burns achieved the feat in the space of 20 minutes on Friday.

The World Number 56, who required a birdie at the par four 18th to make history on his own, recovered from finding a fairway bunker off the tee to find the green and safely take two putts from 48 feet for his closing par.

There have now been eight scores of 62 in a men's Major, with four coming at the Open Championship and all of those coming at Birkdale after South Africa's Branden Grace was the first to do so in 2017.

South Korea's Haeran Ryu holds the lowest round in Major Championship history, having carded an 11-under-par 60 at the Evian Championship, one of the five women's majors.

Playing alongside Xander Schauffele, who has two 62s in majors to his name, Fox made birdies at the second, third, fifth, sixth and eighth to cover his front nine in 29.

He got six under for the day and championship with a birdie at the tenth, before he cancelled out a lone bogey at the 13th after finding a fairway bunker with an up-and-down for birdie at the par five 14th.

A birdie at the 16th and 17th - the latter coming after a good wedge shot to four feet - set up his chance to become the first man to card a 61 in a men's Major.

"I feel really good, to be honest," said Fox, who has won four times on the DP World Tour and twice on the PGA TOUR.

"Being picky, I'd want a couple of drives back today maybe, but outside of that, I feel like I didn't really miss a shot. Had a couple of great shots down the stretch, putted really nicely.

"But it feels like, when you're out in the morning, when the wind's down around here, there's almost some pressure on to shoot a score. It was nice, like Xander and I had a lot of fun out there today. Both made a bunch of birdies and kind of fed off each other.

"I would have taken 62 on a Saturday, that's for sure."

Fox intends to stay 'aggressive' on Sunday

It remains to be seen where Fox will start the final round in relation to the lead but the attack-minded Fox admits the potential for weather conditions to alter on Sunday means he will be "fluid" with his strategy.

"Just pick shots and try to hit them," he said. "Nothing changes game plan wise. I think this golf course anyway kind of lends itself to being fluid. The wind's swung around from all directions this morning when we played, it felt like.

"I went in there with a pretty aggressive strategy the whole day and did the same thing yesterday and played pretty decently. So I'll try to do the same thing tomorrow and see what happens."

Men's Major Championship 62s