Espen Kofstad bettered his first-round score by an incredible 19 shots as he smashed the DLF Golf and Country Club course record on day two of the Hero Indian Open.
The Norwegian had already booked his flights home after carding an opening 81 over the Gary Player designed layout, which is considered to be one of the very toughest on the DP World Tour.
But after starting his second round with three birdies he barely looked back, carding a single bogey and six more birdies to get to eight under on the day after 15 holes.
He needed another gain to break Shubhankar Sharma's course record of 64 but went one better, eagling the eighth after a stroke of good fortune to card a 62 that is also his lowest round on Tour by two shots.
To go from an 81 to a 62 overnight is almost a microcosm for a career that has seen many highs and lows due to injury since Kofstad turned professional in 2010.
WOW! 🤯@EspenKofstad has just broken the course record with a second round 62, after shooting an opening 81 and moves above the cut line (-1), now set to make the weekend!#HIO24
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 29, 2024
He topped the European Challenge Tour Rankings in 2012 and played 30 DP World Tour events in 2013 but then played just 14 in the next five seasons despite coming through the Qualifying School in 2014 and 2016.
Another Challenge Tour graduation followed in 2021 and he kept his playing privileges in 2022 but did not tee it up competitively for 33 weeks in 2023 as injuries once again took their toll.
With 11 starts already in the 2024 season, the four-time Challenge Tour winner will hope his injury problems are now behind him and his remarkable comeback in New Delhi can kickstart his career.
"Today was just unbelievable," he said after signing his record-breaking card. "Everything came off and I've holed so many putts, I have no idea how many feet I've holed but it's been quite the day.
"I've been working a lot on the range lately and I'm feeling like I've been coming back from injury and everything's been feeling horrible for the longest time.
"The other day I felt like, 'OK, I'm starting to move a little bit better' and then yesterday I just didn't get used to what I was working on and everything went wrong.
"Then this morning on the range, I was just hitting balls and it felt really nice and then all of a sudden the birdies just started rolling in when I started playing.
"You need your fair share of luck as well. I mean, on my 17th, I was trying to put it next to a couple of sprinklers but I happened to pull it a little bit and it went over the sprinkler head, into the hole for an eagle. So just one of those days.
"I changed my flights last night to go home tomorrow. So I'm going to have to change them again."
