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Sebastian Söderberg plays fastest round in European Tour history, but can't quite catch Wesley Bryan's PGA Tour record

January 26, 2020
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Sebastian Söderberg mixed a comfortable 10K race into his final round of golf at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. The results were pretty impressive.

On a difficult golf course where no one finished double digits under par for the week, the 29-year-old Swede needed just 97 minutes to shoot a three-over-par 75 while playing as a single. In the process, he shattered the record for fastest round in European Tour history.

"I tried to play as fast as possible," said Söderberg, who made one birdie and four birdies on Sunday. "I thought it would be a fun thing to do and I didn't necessarily think that it would hurt my game too much."

Söderberg accomplished the feat with the help of his younger brother and caddie, Jasper. And his time topped Thomas Pieters' effort of one hour and 59 minutes at last year's Italian Open.

Söderberg finished so far in front of the rest of the field that even Eddie Pepperell, who was in that highly anticipated third-to-last pairing with Bryson DeChambeau, noticed before he teed off.

As quickly as Söderberg played, though, he wasn't quite able to catch Wesley Bryan's PGA Tour mark for pace of play. Bryan needed only 89 minutes to complete his final round at the 2017 BMW Championship. Of course, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison with courses, but Bryan also needed only 69 shots that day.

In any event, kudos to Söderberg for finding his way into the European Tour record book. And for getting in his daily cardio at the same time.