Dubai-based Rayhan Thomas added another notch to his CV on Tuesday when he shot nine consecutive birdies on the Mena Tour to equal the world record for an Official World Golf Rankings event.
The teenager, 17, began the birdie stretch at the second hole at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club during the second round of the Dubai Creek Open - a tournament at which he is defending champion.
Eventually, Thomas carded a 10-under par 61 to equal the course record on his home track – the mark was set the previous day by Dubai resident MG Keyser – to move to the top of the leaderboard. Keyser, who went out later on Tuesday, shot a 68 to reclaim the summit ahead of Wednesday's final round.
Thomas’ nine birdies on the bounce equals the world record set by American Mark Calcavecchia at the 2009 RBC Canadian Open. Earlier this year, Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger fired nine consecutive birdies in the second round of the 2017 Maybank Championship in Malaysia. However, it is not officially recognised since preferred lies were in play because of wet conditions at Saujana Golf and Country in Kuala Lumpur.
Speaking of his record-equalling day, Thomas said: “Yeah, it was fun. It was a good run of birdies. I just stayed pretty much in the moment and let it happen. It just felt natural.
“I knew I could go low, especially round my home track where I know the greens so well. So I just let everything flow. I didn’t know about the record, but that’s nice. That’s pretty cool.”
