SANDWICH, England (AP) – Unheralded Englishman Mark Roe has a place in British Open lore.

After almost a decade of missed cuts and failing to qualify, Roe opened his second round at the British Open on Friday with six straight 3s before spoiling the run with a birdie at the par-5 seventh.

“I’m wondering, has anyone had six 3s in a British Open,” said Roe, who shot a 1-under 70 and easily made the cut with a two-round total of 5 over, six strokes off the lead

Roe made birdie at Nos. 1 and 2, had a par at the third , eagled the fourth, and birdied the fifth. After making par at No. 6, he missed an eagle putt at the seventh, ending the run.

“I chipped in the first and single putted all the others, bar the par-3, which I two-putted,” said Roe, who has three European Tour victories in a career that started in 1981.

“Certainly, when I hit my eagle 3 at seven, it looked right in the middle and I thought ‘Well, there’s nobody who can have had seven 3s in the Open, especially from the start.’ Maybe I’ve made history.”

He might have. Fred Funk made six consecutive 3s at St. Andrews in 2000, but his run didn’t start at the first hole.

Roe charged into third place, but couldn’t maintain the push. On the inward nine, he had a triple-bogey 8 after losing his tee shot at No. 14.

“It was a roller coaster run, but I get used to that,” he said. “I’m delighted. Six 3s, nearly seven 3s, and I got quite excited.

“I made one mistake and that was my tee shot at the par-5 and it cost me 8. But this golf course is brutal. If you make one mistake, slide off the fairway, catch a bad lie. The stuff that I lost my ball in you could lose an elephant in it.”

Roe was amazed at his sudden run, and his performance in the Open.

“I didn’t really care whether I played golf or not three weeks ago,” he said. “I was quite happy rolling along just not hitting shots I was wanting to hit and not playing well.

“If somebody said to me ‘You’ll win 80-90,000 pounds ($129-145,000) in the Open, make the cut’, I’m doing cartwheels.”

AP-ES-07-18-03 1836EDT