Foursome sets Guinness World Record by playing par-five in less than 35 seconds
One of the biggest complaints about golf -- particularly from non-golfers -- is that the sport simply takes too long to play.
Even on a good day, you're looking at a few hours to finish 18 holes, and when the local muni is packed, you could be looking at five hours or longer to wrap up a round.
But golf doesn't always have to be defined by its lackadaisical pace, and a group of four professional golfers from France proved it ahead of last weekend's Open de Espana, a European Tour event at Real Club Valderrama in San Roque, Spain.
Prior to the tournament, three four-man teams set out to break a Guinness World Record for the fastest hole of golf ever played. The rules of the attempt were simple: Each group of pros -- one from Spain, one from Denmark and one from France -- had to play a 500-yard hole relay-style and finish in under 68 seconds.
Naturally, hilarity ensued:
Ultimately, two of the teams were able to finish within the window, as the French team of Romain Wattel, Alexander Levy, Gregory Havret and Raphael Jacquelin needed only half the allotted time to card an easy four. The Danish team of Lucas Bjerregaard, Lasse Jensen, Morten Orum Madsen and Thorbjorn Olesen also had a four thanks to an impressive sand save from Madsen and Olesen, but their attempt took 49 seconds to complete.
Meanwhile, the Spanish foursome of Rafa Cabrera Bello, Sergio Garcia, Pablo Larrazabal, Ignacio Elvira Mijares was the only team to not beat the 68-second mark, using 1:18 to finish a six after Garcia's second shot from the fairway found the water.
At that 34-seconds-per-hole rate, the record-setting French team could play 18 in 10 minutes and 12 seconds -- or, less time than it typically takes to play a single hole. That makes for a pretty quick scramble, but unfortunately, setting a record during the week didn't help the French golfers during the tournament, as two missed the cut and only Levy finished within the top 50.
Garcia did recover, however, and finished third on the leaderboard at 3-over -- two shots behind winner Andrew "Beef" Johnston, who might still be hammered as of Monday morning.
