Adam Long sets record of 69 consecutive fairways hit

U.S. golfer Adam Long (36) achieved a tournament record by hitting 69 consecutive fairways during the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at the Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda. In his first round on Thursday, Long recorded 11 fairway hits until the 14th hole.

Long set a new PGA Tour record with consecutive fairways hit, starting from the 16th hole of his final round at last month's Shriners Children's Open. This streak continued during the World Wide Technology (WWT) Championship. Surpassing Brian Claar's 1992 record of 59 fairways, Long also became the first player since Claar, 31 years ago at the Memorial Tournament, to hit every fairway in a single tournament at the WWT.

Long tied the record by hitting the fairway on the par-4 first hole, adding nine more consecutive fairway hits. The streak ended when he missed the fairway on the 15th hole. Reflecting on the pressure, Long mentioned, "Had everyone not come up and said something to me the last 24 hours, I probably wouldn't think about it as much as I did," he said, expressing relief when the streak concluded.

Despite the record fairway hits, Long, currently ranked 295th globally with only one win at the Desert Classic in January 2019, did not secure a top performance. In the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, he scored five under pars, sharing 26th place after the first round, while nine players had to halt their games midway due to sunset. Long finished at a shared 23rd place in the WWT in October.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com