Deal golf professional Richard Wallis is now officially a world record holder.

The 33-year-old former Walmer School pupil has received a certificate from Guinness World Records confirming that his fantastic 14-under-par round of 59, which he shot in winning the PGA Southern Open Championship Pro-Am on the par-73 course at The Drift GC in Surrey last June, is the lowest below-par score in a single round of a professional tournament ever recorded.

There have been other rounds of 59 shot in professional tournaments but none of 14-under-par.

Wallis said: “I’m chuffed and the bit I’m proud about is that it covers all the major golf tours in the world – Europe, America, Australia and the rest.

“The reason it took Guinness so long to ratify the record was that they had to contact all the different tours across the world to find out if anyone had ever shot 14-under in one round before.”

The former Walmer & Kingsdown professional, who is now attached to North Foreland GC, in fact, thought he might have set two world records, with the second for the lowest-ever single round score on a par-73 course.

He added: “Guinness initially thought it could be two world records because they didn’t think that anyone had ever shot 59 on a par-73 course before but they weren’t able to verify that because there are no existing records for par-73 courses.”

But Wallis, who moved to live in Herne Bay last month with his wife Nicola, has been told by Guinness that he is on their shortlist to be included in the next edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

It all represents a memorable start to the year for Wallis, who plans to focus on the EuroPro Tour this season in a bid to win a place on the PGA European or Challenge Tours in 2015.