Sebastian Soderberg gives his brother the runaround as he sets European Tour record at Omega Desert Classic

Swede completes round four in 96 minutes after playing on his own

Sebastian Soderberg and his brother Jasper on their way to the 96-minute round at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Twitter/ @OMEGAGolfDubai

Sebastian Soderberg set a record for the European Tour’s fastest round after racing round Emirates Golf Club in 1hr 36mins on Sunday.

The Swede was the first player out in the final round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

With an odd number of players making the cut, Soderberg went out on his own, without a playing partner.

As such, he could set the pace of play he wanted. It turned out he set it to rapid.

He was finishing at the 18th just as the 11th match of the day - the 8.45am tee-time of Masahiro Kawamura and Adrian Otaegui - was being announced on the first tee.

“I always wanted to jog and play as fast as I could,” said Soderberg, who ended the tournament 10-over par.

“I struggled the last two days, so I figured it wouldn’t really hurt my game just to jog in between, and not think too much. I think 3-over is not bad, with zero fairways hit.”

The fact he carded a 3-over par 75 was news to his caddie, younger brother Jasper, who had missed many of the putts as he was advancing in preparation of the next tee shot.

Jasper was sweating, and breathing heavily when they got to the recorder’s hut at the end of the round, but enjoyed his morning’s workout.

“What did he shoot? It could have been under-par or 5-over for all I know,” the caddie said. “At least that is my cardio done for the day.”

Soderberg paid tribute to his brother, as well as the match marshals for keeping up with the pace.

“I thought about it last night,” Soderberg said. “The important thing was my brother on the bag. He had the big job, because he ran non-stop pretty much.

“He said that he was excited about it this morning, and that helped. He said, ‘Let’s do it’.

“We talked before. Whenever it was a par-3, he would go up there and wait there. On par-4s and 5s he would just leave the appropriate clubs.

“I think most of them [the marshals] had an idea, but the lady I had with me, I’m not sure she realised how fast we were going to go.

“She was a little tired towards the end, but, ‘Thanks a lot’.”

Thomas Pieters played a round at the Italian Open in 1hr 59mins last October.