It’s been 42 years since the birth of The European Tour, and to date, no one has ever shot a 59 in tournament play. Nicolas Colsaerts made a run at the record today in Portugal, and missed the birdie putt on the 18th hole to close the deal. Colsaerts carded an 11 under par score on the Oceanico Victoria Golf Course on Thursday afternoon and leads the Portugal Masters by three.
The Mussels from Brussels had his way on the back nine, posting two eagles down the stretch. Three birdies, and two eagles netted the 31 year-old Belgian a 29 on the back to go along with a bogey free round, and a 31 on the front.
The Belgian slid a 20 foot birdie putt agonizingly just past the left-hand lip of the 18th to fall short of the elusive feat by a single stroke.
Colsaerts’ putt looked on course to drop until the final few moments as he instead had to be content with a 60 – the 19th time the score has been managed on The European Tour.
I had reported earlier that Scot, Jamie Donaldson had the lead with the morning session complete, but Frenchman, Alexander Levy was able to match his eight under score, but both tail Colsaerts by three when action gets underway on Friday morning.
Due to weather delays, there are still players waiting to finish the opening round when play resumes on Friday. The closest to the lead still to finish, is Spaniard, Adrian Otaegui who is through 14, and is currently at seven under par.
Colsaerts knew after the eagle on the par 4 15th that he had a chance at the 59.
“When I made eagle on 15, I knew then that if I birdied the last three, that would have been 59,” Colsaerts said.
“So I parred 16 and then walking down the fairway on 16, I tell Brian after I hit a good drive, I was like: ‘It’s 59 or nothing’.”
Re-living his final hole, he added: “Hit a good drive. It’s too bad it (the putt) just shaves the edge.
“I thought it was going to be slightly left to right at the end and it kind of went straight and basically just left it hanging. Too bad, I thought it was a pretty good effort, especially with these dark clouds that we saw at the back. It’s a great setting.”
Nicolas Colsaerts was on top of the golf world when he played in the 2012 Ryder Cup, but has fallen on tough times since trying to play a full schedule on the PGA Tour. He missed cuts in half of the 14 tournaments he has started. He looks to have found something in Europe, and could well be on the come-back trail.
A round of 59 would have certainly put him in the record books. The 19th occurrence of another 60 will not!
Source: europeantour.com
