The full impact of what he had accomplished took more than 24 hours and 230 miles to sink in. It happened not at Royal Birkdale -- site of his record-breaking performance -- but in London when he shook hands with Gary Player, who was greeting participants for his charity golf event at Wentworth the next day.

“Congratulations. That’s awesome,” Player told him. “Just never forget that you’ll always be the first one to do it. Doesn’t matter if people tie you or whatever. You’ll always be the first.”

Only then did Branden Grace start to understand. Only then did the math kick in.

Thousands of the world’s best golfers playing hundreds of thousands of rounds spread over three different centuries in the sport’s most pressure-packed environments – and it was Grace who made history as the first to shoot 62 in a major.

When he did so in the third round of last year’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, Grace broke a tie shared at that point by 29 players, who had combined to shoot 63 a total of 31 times (Greg Norman and Vijay Singh did it twice). Player had done it in 1984 at the PGA Championship. Tiger Woods had done it once; so had Jack Nicklaus.

Johnny Miller shot the first 63 in a major on the final day of the 1973 U.S. Open, a round often regarded as the greatest in major championship history. That it led to victory certainly enhanced its reputation.

For the next 44 years, no player could go a stroke lower … until Grace came along, shooting 8 under in perfect scoring conditions at the Open venue north of Liverpool.

Unlike Miller’s 63, Grace’s 62 hasn’t exactly received the same oh-my-gawd-can-you-believe-that reaction from the golfing public. It didn’t lead to victory, as Grace eventually finished T-6. His record was almost tied the very next day by China’s Haotong Li, who birdied his last four holes to shoot a final-round 63. Ultimately, what most people will remember about the 2017 Open Championship is Jordan Spieth’s riveting back-nine drama that included a recovery shot from the driving range.

Grace unknowingly contributed to the lukewarm reaction when he confessed that neither he nor caddie Zack Rasego were unaware of the record chase until the 18th green, where Grace needed a two-putt par for 62. The 30-year-old South African was just being honest, and that lack of knowledge kept his nerves steady. Had he gotten caught in going where no player had gone before, he might have never completed the journey.

“It’s amazing how a golfer’s mind really works,” Grace said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve achieved – there’s always those things that pop into your mind. You can’t help it. The mind is so powerful that sooner or later, you’re going to start thinking, ‘OK, don’t make a bogey. Don’t hit it there.’ And then you do the opposite. That’s just how it works. I really do think it helped in our favor that particular day.”

Perhaps his record will get heightened recognition during this week’s Open Championship at Carnoustie.

In the 12 months since his 62, Grace has watched video of his Saturday performance plenty of times; in fact, he refers to the video whenever his game gets out of sorts, hoping to see something that will trigger a positive reset. Meanwhile, the Titleist balls he puts into play are stamped with the number “62.” He’s heard some people even refer to him as “Mr. 62.” And he recently announced a deal with a South African distillery to sell a special-edition brandy to benefit one of his charities. The brandy has been aged 62 months.

But even Grace realizes his 62 was only the second-biggest thing to happen to him in the last 12 months, as he and wife Nieke had their first child. Baby boy Roger was born earlier this year on April 23 – or, if you check the calendar, nine months after Nieke walked all 18 holes to watch her husband shoot 62 on July 22.

Nieke never experienced morning sickness at Royal Birkdale and her pregnancy wasn’t confirmed until the couple returned to their Florida home the week after the tournament. But she fell sick on Wednesday before the Open and was still queasy that weekend. “Maybe a trigger why she wasn’t feeling well,” Grace said.

In other words, neither Grace nor his wife knew she was pregnant when he shot 62 – just like he didn’t know of his record chase until the very end. Ignorance, in this case, might have indeed been bliss.

Branden Grace made this 3-foot par putt for a record 62 at last year's Open. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Bones called it.

While setting up the third-round action at Royal Birkdale, Jim “Bones” Mackay – the former Phil Mickelson caddie turned on-course reporter for NBC and Golf Channel – was engaged in some light banter with host Dan Hicks. Analyst Johnny Miller had yet to join Hicks in the booth.

“I gotta tell you,” Bones said, taking quick glances at the sky, “Don’t tell Johnny I said this, but there’s a 62 out there today.”

Scoring conditions couldn’t have been better that Saturday morning. The day before, heavy rain had fallen in Southport, the seaside town 20 miles north of Liverpool on the Irish Sea, to soften up the greens. There was little wind, and the temperature was warm. Meanwhile, tournament officials shaved about 150 yards on the course set-up.

Someone would be going low, but did anyone expect it to be Grace? Sure, he had shown decent form in a handful of starts leading up to Royal Birkdale, but his T-48 at THE PLAYERS Championship and T-50 at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills weren’t exactly encouraging signs when the stakes were raised.

Meanwhile, his first two rounds in England were far from impressive – an opening even-par 70 followed by a 74 in which he suffered five bogeys in his last 13 holes. He was 4 over – one stroke above the cutline – and tied for 45th, 10 strokes off the lead. That gave him an 11:25 a.m. local tee time for the third round.

He was in the 13th group of the day with Jason Dufner. The superstitious type might consider that a bad omen.

But if you dig a little deeper into Grace’s career, you’d realize he has a habit of touching history. He shares the record-low round of 60 on the European Tour, which has been shot a dozen times. Grace did his during the 2012 Alfred Dunhill Links at Kingsbarns; his 12-under total is one of eight scores that low in relation to par. That same year, at age 23, he won four European Tour events; just five other players have won more in a single season.

And at the 2015 Presidents Cup, he became just the second International Team player in tournament history to produce a flawless week, going 5-0-0 in South Korea. That included four wins with partner and fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen.

Grace is well-acquainted with going super-low. Early in his career, during a practice round at a Challenge Tour event in Kenya, he was scheduled to play just nine holes … until he made the turn at 8 under. So he kept going and eventually shot 58.

That score came up in a conversation Grace recently had Oosthuizen, who famously shot a 57 on his home course at Mossel Bay. Oosthuizen is understandably proud of that number – just check out his Twitter handle – and couldn’t resist a little jab when Grace told the story of his 58.

“You can’t get to 57,” Oosthuizen said.

Grace smiled. He didn’t need 57. He has 62. “Yours is not a record, is it?” Grace replied.

“He didn’t enjoy that when I said that,” Grace recalled later with a laugh. “I’ve got a record; you don’t. Those always come in handy when you need it.”

So when Grace began his Saturday round at Royal Birkdale, he had scoring conditions and a leaderboard position that required him to step on the gas.

“It was such a perfect day that when you get those days, you kind of make a decision – are you going to be a little bit more aggressive or are you going to still try and do the things that you’ve before?” Grace said. “I kept telling myself that if I can get off to a good start, be maybe 1 or 2 under through the first four holes, then you can really start pushing. As soon as you have a little bit of a cushion, you always feel you can go out and be a little more aggressive with 14 or 15 holes to play.”

He got that cushion. A birdie from 16 feet to open his round, then a birdie from 35 feet at the fourth. At the drivable par-4 fifth, Grace had used iron off the tee in the first two rounds. But course officials had moved up the tee box for the third round, making it a stock standard driver for Grace. “Let’s go for it,” he told Rasego. His tee shot finished 25 feet from the pin. Two putts for birdie.

Then another birdie straight uphill from 25 feet at the eighth. His next birdie attempt at the ninth was less than half that distance but with a huge break. No problem. Grace made the turn in 29. “I thought, ‘OK, bam, here we go,’” he said. “This could be a low one today.”

Upon making the turn, Grace knew he was in the zone. But it wasn’t like he was rolling in every putt. He missed a 15-footer at the 12th and an 11-footer at the 13th. As he lined up a much longer birdie attempt on the 14th hole, approximately 36 feet, his caddie started to walk up to offer his thoughts.

“Don’t worry about it,” Grace told him. “I’ve got it.”

He rolled in the putt. Two holes later, he had another long birdie putt, this one from 28 feet. This time, Grace called in Rasego for help. The conversation went like this:

Grace: “What do you think? I think it’s right edge, maybe just outside right.”

Rasego: “That’s perfect.”

Grace: “All I have to do is just hit it because I know it’s in.”

Once it dropped, Grace was 7 under on his round with two holes left, including the par-5 17th.

“I always see myself as a streaky putter, so when one of those long putts just went in … well, I just saw everything,” Grace recalled. “It’s kind of like you go into autopilot. You know exactly what to do. It’s almost like you can’t miss. The hole becomes a bucket.

“It doesn’t happen often, but when you get those rounds, it’s awesome.”

His two-putt birdie from 26 feet at the 17th meant he only needed par on the final hole for the record. He just didn’t know it at the time.

Word had spread quickly throughout Royal Birkdale that Grace had history in his crosshairs. Both sides of the 18th fairway were lined with spectators. Grace was a bit surprised to see them so enthusiastic.

I know this is a good round, he thought, a bit sheepishly, so thanks.

He knew at that point he was 8 under. But for the moment, he had forgotten that Royal Birkdale was playing to par 70.

“When I think of 62, I think of 10 under,” Grace said. “I knew what my score was, and I knew what the record was, but it just didn’t ever click – put one and two together that it was history-making.”

His pitching wedge left him 60 feet from the pin. It wasn’t going to be an easy two-putt. But a nice lag putt left him 3 feet for par. At that point, Jason Dufner’s caddie Kevin Baile approached Rasego.

“This is for the history books,” Baile said.

Rasego shook his head, still not understanding.

“This is for 62,” Baile added.

The light clicked on for Rasego, who then watched Grace make the par save before approaching his man with a big smile.

“You’re in the history books,” Rasego told Grace.

Now it was Grace’s turn to look puzzled.

“That’s 62. That’s the lowest major round ever,” Rasego explained.

Grace’s reply was a simple one. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Honestly, we had no idea what was happening at that stage,” Grace said. “We were so in the zone of trying to get back into the golf tournament … the last thing I wanted to do was finish with a bogey on the 18th hole because that’s just a mood killer. That would have been a proper mood killer, to shoot 63. But it was a great two-putt par to seal it off.”

Among the gallery members capturing history on their smartphones was Oosthuizen, who had missed the cut the previous day. He and a friend were arguing about the exact length and the correct line of that final par putt before telling each other to shut up as Grace stood over the ball.

“When I made it, they went crazy,” Grace said. “He sent me the video afterwards, saying, ‘This is so awesome.’”

As he walked off the green, Grace instinctively gave his glove to a young fan but kept the historic golf ball in his pocket (he now has it displayed in his office).

By the time he saw his wife, Nieke was well aware of the historical implications. With one round still to play, their celebration that night was restrained. They ate dinner at a fish-and-chips restaurant -- it was the same place they had ordered take-out from the previous night. In fact, they even ordered the same meal. Then they went home and watched golf highlights.

Despite the 62, Grace was still seven shots back of Spieth as the final round began and was never really a factor in shooting an even-par 70. There would be no Claret Jug, but a spot in the record books was a nice consolation prize.

How long will it last?

At this year’s Masters, Paul Casey was 9 under through 15 holes and needed just one birdie in his final three holes to shoot 62.

“I got a little bit nervous, I must say, at Augusta this year,” Grace said. “I’m like, it can’t be so quickly. It can’t be gone already. Just give me a couple of years, or something like that.”

Casey ultimately bogeyed his final two holes to shoot 65.

The final round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills was also another nervous moment, as Tommy Fleetwood had a birdie putt inside 9 feet on the final hole. He barely missed. “I wanted 62,” Fleetwood said afterward.

“I’m sure it’s going to happen eventually,” Grace said. “But I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.”

He’ll always be the first to 62, though. Just like Miller was the first to 63.

Golf fans wondered how the outspoken Miller would accept that he no longer is the record holder. That Saturday on the telecast, he offered his respects to Grace. “Look at that number. That is sweet,” Miller said before noting that the course “was set up really, really easy today, folks. But it was still a heck of a round.”

Miller can be a lightning rod as a commentator, especially when offering blunt criticism of a player. Grace said he’s been thanked several times for breaking the record.

“Everybody says, ‘We all love it how you ruined Johnny Miller’s 63.’ You hear that so many times out here,” Grace said. “I hope he doesn’t take it the wrong way.”

Grace has not spoken to Miller about replacing him in the history books but doesn’t consider it a touchy subject. He has plenty of respect for Miller’s breakthrough round four decades ago.

“Obviously his 63 is probably one of the best rounds of all time in history,” Grace said. “To shoot 63 in a major to win is phenomenal in his own right.

“There’s always luck involved in golf. You need luck to win golf events. You need luck to make birdies. And you need luck to have records. It’s just so fortunate that that was my day.”