Amazing Grace equals European Tour record

ST ANDREWS - South African Branden Grace equalled the European Tour record when he shot a blistering 12-under-par 60 to lead after the first round of the Dunhill Links Championship on Thursday.Grace, a triple winner on the tour in 2012, clipped two strokes off Lee Westwood’s previous Kingsbarns record of 62 set in 2003 after finishing with five straight birdies.Frenchman Victor Dubuisson was two shots off the lead on 62 after breaking the course record at St Andrews, one of three layouts being used this week.Dubuisson had threatened to eclipse Grace when he reached 11 under with three holes left but he bogeyed the seventh hole (his 16th) before finishing with a couple of pars.Grace became the 14th player to shoot a 60 on the European Tour.“It could have been a 59,” he told reporters. “It’s not the easiest course I’ve ever seen and it is definitely shorter than the others.Grace, who did not drop a stroke to par, started at the 10th hole and fired three birdies and an eagle on his front nine before storming home in 29 strokes.Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, the 2011 British Open winner, is the only man to card two 60s on the circuit, in 1992 and 1999.

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Amazing Grace equals European Tour record