Ross Fisher breaks the St Andrews Old Course record - and how Twitter reacted

Tyrrell Hatton successfully defended his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title at St Andrews yesterday, but it was Ross Fisher’s final round that will go down in golfing history.

While Hatton carded a 66 in his winning score of 24 under, Fisher set a new course record at the “spiritual home of golf”, with an 11-under-par 61. And he narrowly missed recording a round of 59 after missing an eagle chance on the 18th.

The historic 61 brought plaudits from the golfing world, including from Hatton, who called Fisher’s round “fantastic” on Twitter.

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After his feat on the Old Course, Fisher told The Times: “I’m gutted I missed that one at the last, but it was one of those days.

“I felt like I saw the lines on the greens, had a really good score and knew I was playing for second because Tyrrell was almost too far in front. But to go out and shoot a score like that, with no bogeys… I just saw the lines and was hitting good putts and they were going in and I didn’t want it to end.

“At the home of golf I wanted to try and give that putt on the last a try for 59 and it just came up a bit shy and then, unfortunately, I didn’t hit a great [birdie] putt, so had to settle for a 61. But I would definitely have taken it.”

We take a look at the Twitter reaction to Fisher’s record-breaking round.

Fisher about that missed 18th chance

A great challenger, says Hatton

Applause all round from the European Tour

A cracking stat from the Golf Channel

Here’s that memorable scorecard

Luke Donald witnessed history