Aguri Iwasaki headed to Royal Troon with the dream of making history by becoming the first Japanese winner of The Open. However, he wrote his name into the record books for all the wrong reasons this week with a 20-over-par round on Friday to finish 23-over overall.
Iwasaki endured a tough 2023 campaign but bounced back to winning ways earlier this year, winning the Japan Open on his second start of the year – finishing eight-under to ensure that he would make his Open debut.
The 25-year-old made an OK start at Royal Troon on Thursday, shooting a three-over 74 despite the tough conditions, with conditions wreaking havoc and affecting even the best such as Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy.
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Iwasaki headed into day two with hopes of making the cut and continuing to compete over the weekend. However, such hopes were quickly crushed as the Japanese star crumbled under the pressure.
Iwasaki concluded the opening nine holes of round two with a score of three over, and he was aware that he needed to improve markedly if he were to secure another weekend in Scotland.
But, similarly to the conditions, the world No. 569 worsened. A double-bogey on the 12th set the tone for a torrid run of shots for Iwasaki. He then found thick rough on the 13th (par four) before hitting a provisional out of bounds.
His third ball then found the rough before he found the fringe at the back green. A chip and two putts followed as Iwasaki scored a quintuple bogey (nine). Astonishingly, he then replicated that score on the par-three 14th.
Iwasaki found the bunker from his tee shot and took a further three shots to get out of the sand. His chip then found the front fringe of the green before he putted for a sextuple bogey.
Three pars then followed before Iwasaki triple-bogeyed the last to conclude proceedings with a 20-over-par 91 – the highest score at The Open since 2019.
Iwasaki’s poor afternoon saw him fall 85 places down the leaderboard, though he will be relieved to learn that he did not manage the highest score in the history of The Open.
That record belongs to John Hughes, who recorded 130 over in 1894 when the competition was held at Royal St George’s.
