• Thailand Golf Championship, Round One

Westwood falls one short of rare 59

Lee Westwood shot 60 in Thailand © Getty Images

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Lee Westwood narrowly missed out on the first competitive round of 59 of his career as he surged into a commanding early lead at the Thailand Golf Championship.

The Englishman gave himself a great chance of recording the sought-after score thanks to a blistering start to his round, but a uneventful par at the short par-three 17th left him needing to hole out from the fairway at the last to dip below 60. That he was unable to do, leaving his approach shot 10 feet right of the pin as he went on to roll home the putt and sign for a round of 60 - the joint lowest in the history of the Asian Tour - as he finished 12-under for the day.

"I came close, just not quite close enough," Westwood said afterwards. "I just messed it up with a couple of pars at the end there.

"Billy [Foster, Westwood's caddie] said that was better than the 62 I shot in the third round of the Nedbank a few weeks ago - so at least I'm making progress!"

That left him five shots clear of a surprise contender, John Daly, who seemed to have put some recent troubles behind him as he carded an impressive round of 65 at Amata Spring Country Club.

The day belonged to Westwood, however, who ultimately had the putter to blame for failing to reach a score only few professionals ever manage. It was clear from the off that a special round was on the cards for the world No. 3, as he made four birdies and an eagle to sit six-under after just five holes.

He added another birdie at the par-five seventh to ensure he went out in 29, but then missed a glorious chance for a second eagle at the 11th as he left his short putt below the hole, a sloppy error in the circumstances. Three birdies would follow to leave him needing to pick up two shots from his final three holes in order to shoot 59 - but he was only able to convert at the last as he was forced to settle for a still-impressive 60.

Elsewhere, Frenchman Gregory Bourdy had a solid start with a round of 68 to sit four-under, three behind Daly alongside Thaworn Wiratchant. A whole host of players sit a shot further back at three-under, including Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Simon Dyson and South African Jbe Kruger.

Other notables include Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa - who has a round of 58 on his CV already - who reached two-under par while playing alongside Westwood despite finding water at the 17th, and Open champion Darren Clarke, who continued his underwhelming recent run of form with a mediocre one-under par day.

Finally, Spaniard Sergio Garcia had a day to forget, as he carded a poor round of 76 to sit down the field at four-over.

The dramatic moment of his day came at the par-three eighth, where he found water twice - first with his tee shot and then with his club. Having pulled his first attempt into the lake left of the green, Garcia reacted in disgust to his pushed second attempt by throwing his four-iron a full 80 yards - seeing it make a healthy splash as it followed his first ball to a watery grave.

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