After opening rounds of 75-73 in the Dogwood Invitational at Druid Hills Golf Club, Davidson College rising junior Alex Ross was more concerned with making the 54-hole cut than he was making history.
Instead, Ross did both, firing an unconscionable 15-under par 57 in the third round to vault from outside the cutline into the top-10.
Asking the starter before his third round what the course record was, Ross set the mark by three strokes in a round that included 13 birdies and an eagle. Beginning his round on the back nine, Ross missed the 10th green with his approach shot, but chipped in for birdie.
He followed that up with three more birdies and an eagle on the par-5 14th hole.
“I’d say after I made the eagle putt, that was when I kind of knew something was up,” Ross told Julie Williams of AmateurGolf.com.
Alex Ross, a @davidsongolf sophomore, had 57 (!!!) today at the @thedogwoodinv. 13 birdies and an eagle. Unreal! pic.twitter.com/AQhcvSUFBk
— Julie Williams (@AGC_Jules) June 7, 2019
Ross birdied three of the last four holes on the back side to post a 9-under par 27. Despite being uncomfortably under par, he managed to birdie six holes on the front nine to post the ridiculous number.
“He was talking about (what he was doing), which was good,” Ross’ playing partner, Owen Burden of Furman University, said. “He was like, ‘I’m really nervous,’ which is understandable. I feel like if you keep to yourself, it could be worse.”
This is a truly outrageous scorecard from @davidsongolf’s Alex Ross, who shot a 15-under 57 — that’s not a misprint — today at The Dogwood. pic.twitter.com/RwsojiiZ6R
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) June 7, 2019
While Ross’ 57 broke Webb Simpson’s course record by three shots, it’s even more impressive that it was his personal-best college round… by 10 shots.
“This is by far my best accomplishment,” Ross told GolfChannel.com’s Brently Romine. “Not even close.”
The 15-under round took him to 11-under par for the tournament, which is four strokes back of 54-hole co-leaders Spencer Ralston of Georgia and Jacob Solomon of Auburn.
On Thursday, Ross just wanted to make the cut, now he has bigger goals.
“Now I get to go out and try to win the tournament,” Ross said. “I’m just going to try and make some more birdies and give it a run.”
The Dogwood Invitational is scheduled to be completed on Saturday, June 8.
