Countdown to the Masters 2011 – Day 29: Price’s 63 in 1986
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Welcome to Day 29 of the Today’s Golfer Countdown to The Masters 2011. Every day from February 17th until the big day when the season’s first Major tees off, April 7th, we will be bringing you some of our favourite memorable moments from The Masters since the tournament started in 1934.
When Nicholas Raymond Leige Price shot a remarkable 63 on the Saturday of the 1986 Masters, he wasn’t really aware of what he had just achieved “I’ve shot myself back into the Tournament,” he said immediately afterwards, “and that was really important to me”.
With one round still to be played, his course record was forgotten among the excitement and anticipation of what was to come.
What’s more, 24 hours later, after Jack Nicklaus had won an extraordinary Masters at the age of 46, Price’s Saturday heroics were thrown even more into the shade.
And yet, no one has ever bettered Price’s landmark at Augusta National; and only one other player, Greg Norman in the first round of the 1996 Masters, has equalled his score. In fact, no one has shot better than 63 in any of the four major championships.
Price had 10 birdies and one bogey in his incredible round; and it could so easily have been even better. On his final hole, the difficult uphill par-4 18th, his wonderful approach gave him a birdie putt and a very realistic chance of a 62. A yard from the hole, his birdie putt looked certain to drop; but it somehow defied gravity, and horseshoed out of the hole.
Of the 24 63’s shot in major championships (by 22 different players) Nick Price’s 63 in the third round of the Masters on that famous Saturday still remains the round which came closest to being a 62.
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