Kenneth Ferrie Equals European Tour Record

Kenneth Ferrie

England's Kenneth Ferrie equalled The European Tour record with an amazing ten under par 60 in Malaga.

After making the cut with nothing to spare at the Open de Andalucía de Golf by Turkish Airlines, the former European Open champion charged all the way from joint 45th into a three shot lead after playing his last 11 holes in a dazzling nine under.

It knocked no fewer than four strokes off his previous best Tour round and he became the 14th player to fall just one shy of the magical 59. Darren Clarke has done it twice.

The 32 year old, who was in danger of losing his European Tour card until the final event of last year, had to wait to see where he was placed with a round to go, though, as halfway leaders Maarten Lafeber, Jeppe Huldahl and Rikard Karlberg had not even teed off as he finished.

Only one under for the first seven holes, Ferrie birdied the next three, eagled the long 12th and then picked up further shots at the 14th, 15th and 17th.

That left him needing to hole his approach to the 449 yard last for the first-ever 59, but a birdie on one of the toughest holes on the par 70 Parador course was enough to keep a big smile on his face.

Ferrie was 11 under par and after only three top ten finishes since the start of 2007 he was in the hunt for a third European Tour title.

Ferrie said: "It was unspectacular, but spectacular at the same time.

"You'd expect somebody with such a low score to have holed putts and hit spectacular shots, but it was just a very steady round - lots of fairways, lots of greens and a lot of wedge shots to four or five feet which I managed to knock in.

"Some days you shoot 70 and you are doing cartwheels and are over the moon, but I don't feel I did anything above and beyond.

"I realised that if I finished birdie-birdie-birdie it would have been 59, but 16 and 18 are strong holes and if you get out of position on them you are going to struggle to make pars.

"My six iron at the last looked very good, but I would gladly have taken 60 with three to play."

Kenneth Ferrie Scorecard

Maybin and McGinley Good Andalucian Start

Johan Edfors at Andalucia Open

Gareth Maybin shot a two under par round on the opening day of the Open de Andalucia de Golf by Turkish Airlines signing for a round of 68 on Thursday, dropping the only shot of day three holes from home on the par four seventh, to finish three strokes behind the leaders - in a share of25th place - with Dubliner,  Paul McGinley, who also ended the day 2 under.

Darren Clarke is one shot further adrift  after his round of 69 at the Parador de Malaga Golf.

Damien McGrane ended day one level par after undoing the good work on the back nine with a double bogey on the fifth hole to sign for a 70.

Michael Hoey dropped four shots after the turn to finish with a one over par 71.


Shane Lowry was still slow to find form finishing his first day in Malaga with a round of 75 and will start Friday close to the projected cut on 5 under.

Meanwile up ahead of Lowry the man he beat at the 3 Irish Open in Baltray in 2009, Robert Rock, is closing in on 200 European Tour events without a win, but maybe a change of caddie is about to bring a change of luck.

In his first round with Andy Forsyth on the bag, Rock started the Open de Andalucia de Golf by Turkish Airlines with a five under par 65 in Malaga and shares the lead with fellow Englishman Jamie Elson and Swedes Johan Edfors, Oscar Floren and Rikard Karlberg.

The 33 year old said: "I've been playing good but not getting on any run of birdies or building any momentum."

That was the way it seemed to be again when he stood level par with eight holes to play, but then came five birdies for a front nine of 29.

Rock has had three runners-up finishes in his career and even walked away with the winning cheque at the 2009 3 Irish Open because it was amateur Shane Lowry who beat him in a play-off.

Elson was on the same winning Walker Cup team as Graeme McDowell and Luke Donald, but ten years on does not have a full European Tour card and needed a top-ten finish in Sicily to qualify for this week's event.

After turning 30 on Wednesday Elson, whose father Pip was The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 1973, came joint fifth on Monday and on the back of that went to the turn in 30 before adding another birdie at the long 12th.

"My fairways hit stats last year were abysmal and that's why I lost my card, but I went over to the States over Christmas and made some really ground-breaking changes, so I'm delighted," Elson said.

"The first time I had a card was 2004 and perhaps it came a bit early for me. I didn't really know what I was doing."

Edfors is still waiting to add to his three wins during the 2006 season, but four birdies in the last seven holes brought him into the picture.

And afterwards the former Scottish Open champion admitted it was a late decision to play.

"It was a good, solid day - I only missed one green," he said.

"Last year I didn't play well here and was planning to take this week off. Then I decided to come, and it was a good decision. The course is in great shape, and the weather is lovely."

Karlberg, meanwhile, is playing on an invitation despite having earned over €240,000 for third place in the Barclays Singapore Open last November.

The 24 year old's effort did not count towards The Race to Dubai because he was a member of The Challenge Tour and failed to play in the required seven events there.

"Today I started playing well, I felt comfortable, but the putts refused to drop on the front nine," he said. "My caddie told me to be patient, and since that moment I started making putts. I got five birdies on the back nine.

"Last year I finished third in Singapore. I earned quite a lot of money, and I tried to gain a European Tour card. But then I neglected the Challenge Tour. At the end I didn't make it to The European Tour and lost my Challenge Tour card as I didn't play enough events.

"Miguel Ángel heard about it and said it was a shame, so he invited me to play at his tournament in Málaga. My target this week is a top ten finish which will allow me to play next week in Morocco. I must try to keep ploughing away week after week. I will also play some Asian Tour events in Malaysia, China and Korea."

Former Open Championship Paul Lawrie is in the group one behind, while Ryder Cup Captains past and present, Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazábal, had level par rounds of 70.