Branden Grace cards first 62 in men's major championship history at the open

South Africa's Branden Grace exploited ideal conditions to record the first 62 in men's major championship history in the third round of the Open at Royal Birkdale.

Phil Mickelson and eventual winner Henrik Stenson both shot 63 in last year's Open at Royal Troon, while Justin Thomas became the 29th player to achieve the feat in last month's US Open.

But Grace, who only made the halfway cut with a shot to spare on four over par, went one better with eight birdies and no bogeys on the 7,027-yard par-70 layout to jump from a tie for 45th into a tie for second.

The 29-year-old made the ideal start with a birdie on the first in benign conditions which were in stark contrast to the wind and torrential rain which forced a brief suspension of play on Friday afternoon.

Further birdies on the fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth took Grace to the turn in 29, matching the front nine of Matt Kuchar on day one, before a run of four straight pars appeared to have halted his momentum.

However, the world number 35 then holed from 35 feet on the 14th and 16th and two-putted the par-five 17th to reach eight under par for the day.

With history on the line, Grace's approach to the last ran just off the back of the green, but he calmly two-putted from long range to complete a brilliant round.

Asked how it felt to make history, Grace told Sky Sports: "It feels great now - I didn't know to be quite honest.

"It was a special round from the start and when you get it going you just want to make even more birdies. I missed a couple of short ones but made a couple of nice ones to make up for it.

"I played a good round that's in the history books and because I had no idea it makes it more special now."