in the final round of the 2024 season-ending Sun- shine Tour Championship at Serengeti took only 87 min- utes to shoot 79. He broke the record of 89 minutes set by PGA Tour pro Wesley Bryan in the final round of the 2017 BMW Champion- ship at Conway Farms. He shot 69. 72. OLDEST TO MAKE A TOUR CUT Bob Charles was 71 years and 261 days at the 2008 New Zealand Open, then part of the European Tour. Jay Haas was the oldest on PGA Tour at 68 and 141 days at the 2022 Zurich Classic. Sam Snead was the oldest at a major, 67 and 68 days at the 1979 PGA Championship. 73. 30 SA OPENS WON BY 3 PLAYERS From 1925 to 1981 there were 53 South African Opens played, and 30 of them were won by just three players. Gary Player won 13 between 1956 and 1981, including five in a row from 1965 to 1969. Bobby Locke won 9 between 1935 and 1955, and those were the only ones he entered in that time. Sid Brews won 8 between 1925 and 1952. 74. YOUNGEST TO PLAY IN A TOUR EVENT Beverley Klass was 10 when she played in the 1967 US Women’s Open; Lucy Li 11 at the 2014 US Open; Lexi Thompson 12 at the 2007 US Open. Thai golfer Ariya Jutanugarn was the youngest to qualify for a LPGA Tour event, aged 11 at the 2007 LPGA Thailand. Youngest in a men’s tour event was 12-year-old Ye Wo-Cheng at the 2013 Chi- na Open (European Tour).
68. NO 1 TEACHER, MOST YEARS
Most Holes-In-One Mancil Davis, known as the “King of Aces,” made his first hole-in-one in 1967 and is sitting on 51. Norman Manley was previ- ously regarded as the record-holder on 59, and Golf Digest covered the controversy about a lack of witnesses. Phil Mickelson says he has made 47 aces. 75
Butch Harmon has coached four players to No 1 in the world – Greg Norman, Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott and Tiger Woods. Harmon also holds at No 1 claim of his own. His teach- ing peers voted him Golf Di- gest’s top-ranked instructor for 22 years in a row, then in 2024 he topped the inaugu- ral list of Golf Digest’s Leg- ends of Golf instruction. 69. FEWEST PUTTS, 72 HOLES ON PGA TOUR South African David Frost had 92 putts in the 2005 Heritage at Harbour Town, although he only finished 38th. That record was matched by Denny McCar- thy at the 2024 Texas Open, which he lost in a playoff. We offer a nod to longtime GD instructor Stan Utley for the 9-hole PGA Tour record of six putts he shares with Chris Riley and Marcus Fra- ser. The 18-hole record is 18 putts, shared by 12 golfers. 70. MOST EUROPEAN TOUR ORDERS OF MERIT In today’s parlance, this would be the most DP World Tour Race to Dubai wins but, regardless, an impressive accomplishment by Colin Montgomerie. The Scot finished atop the tour’s season-long money list eight times, including seven consecutive years from 1993 to 1999. It might not be his record for much longer, however, with Rory McIlroy winning the Race to Dubai for a seventh time in 2025. 71. FASTEST TOUR ROUND South African Stefan Wears-Taylor, playing alone
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