There have been several tales of record-breaking scores being achieved by tour players during friendly lockdown games over the last few months, but few come close to matching the stunning round shot by European Tour player Sam Horsfield during a social game in the US last week.
Horsfield, who is originally from Manchester, but went to college in Florida, where he is currently spending his lockdown, shot a 14-under-par 59 during a round with two friends at the Streamsong Resort in Florida. While several players have shot that magical score in competition, including Oliver Fisher at the Portugal Masters in 2018, none has been achieved on a par 73 course.
Horsfield’s career best on the European Tour is a 62, shot in the final round of the Scandinavian Invitation last August, but the current world No.222 looks to be in fine form as the European Tour prepares to return to competition at the end of July with the British Masters at Close House. A front-nine 29 included five birdies and an eagle, which he duplicated while shooting a back-nine 30.
While it wasn’t made clear which tees he was playing off, a 14 under score on the black tees (6,747 yards), would still be pretty impressive. For the record, his friends scores of 68 and 69 were none to shabby, but they still lost by 10 and 11 shots respectively.
Horsfield is currently 68th in the Race to Dubai rankings, although with no relegation to the Challenge Tour this season due to pandemic, he won’t have to worry about retaining his card for 2021. Although in this kind of form, he might be looking to secure his first win when the schedule resumes in next month.
