By Torleif Sorenson on 9/12/14

The single-round scoring record in men's major championships is 63. A total of 24 golfers have done this 26 times since 1973, when Johnny Miller won the U.S. Open with his stunning final round. Greg Norman (1986 Open Championship, 1996 Masters) and Vijay Singh (1993 PGA, 2003 U.S. Open) are the only men to have done it twice. In fact, Norman nearly shot 62 in the opening round of the 1996 Masters.

Move over, guys — Hyo-Joo Kim and her 61 made history on Thursday:


Kim hit 11 of 13 fairways, 15/18 GIR, and took only 23 putts to get around the Evian Resort in southeastern France. Interestingly, she told reporters afterward that she was simply trying to gain more experience playing in major championships:

"I like hard courses and I played really well today. I didn't come here with too high expectations. I just wanted to play well. I putted great today. My longest was about 45 feet at the 14th."

If it sounds like she's trying to be too modest, consider that she just turned professional in October of 2012 and this is, apparently, her first major championship. Her best regular LPGA Tour performance has been a T-4 at the 2012 Evian (one year before it became a major championship), but she did card a 61 at the Japanese Tour's Suntory Ladies Open that same year.

Kim had a stellar amateur career; she won both the Orange Bowl Junior and the R&A Junior Girls Open in 2011.

No matter that she shot a one-over 72 today, she is still alone in second at the Évian Championship heading into the weekend. She is one shot behind American Brittany Lincicome and two ahead of fellow South Korean Mi Jung Hur. Suzann Pettersen and Karrie Webb are lurking three shots behind, with Stacy Lewis and Lydia Ko another stroke distant.


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