Sebastian Soderberg Plays Fastest Round In European Tour History

The Swede was round in 96 minutes, setting a new European Tour record

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Swede was round in 96 minutes, setting a new European Tour record

Sebastian Soderberg Plays Fastest Round In European Tour History

Sebastian Soderberg played his final round at the Dubai Desert Classic in just over an hour and a half.

The Swede was out first on his own on Sunday and decided to play as fast as possible.

The result was a three over par round of 75, completed in a new record, according to the European Tour, of one hour and 36 minutes.

"Just tried to play as fast as possible," Soderberg told the European Tour.

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"I felt like it would be a fun thing to do and I didn't necessarily think that it would hurt my game too much at some points and I said we'll try and go as fast as possible the first five, six holes.

"But I mean I took a little time on putts and all the shots and just ran in between

"I played quite well in the beginning so we just kept going."

Soderberg said that he had the idea on Saturday evening and his brother was excited for it.

"Feeling better now, like there was some tough spots there running for a while," his brother said.

"Had to catch my breath a little bit but yeah, now I'm feeling pretty good."

A picture emerged of him face-down in the grass after the round looking quite relieved to be done...

"I think it was a record-breaking time so it was quite fun," Soderberg added.

The Swede shot three over par to end on +10 for the week in 70th position.

He said that he didn't hit a single fairway during the round in which he recorded one birdie and four bogeys.

Other fast rounds in recent years include Thomas Pieters' 2019 Italian Open final round of 1hr 59mins and Kevin Na's 1hr 59mins round at the 2016 Tour Championship.

However, American Wesley Bryan went better than both as well as Soderberg with a 1hr 26mins final round at the 2017 BMW Championship.

Three-time European Tour winner Peter Baker disputed Soderberg's record on social media, saying that the record actually belongs to him.

"This is NOT the fastest round on tour myself and Paul Way in the last round of Lancôme Trophy went round in 72 minutes and I think Mark Roe and Robert Lee might have gone around quicker in another event," he wrote on Twitter.

Either way, one hour and 36 minutes in 75 strokes around the brutal 7,300 yard Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club is good going!

Related: New European Tour slow play sanctions revealed

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Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!


Elliott is currently playing:


Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV