• The Colonial, Round One

Sloppy mistakes end Fowler's pursuit of 59

Rickie Fowler studies his drive © Getty Images

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Two sloppy mistakes prevented Rickie Fowler becoming only the sixth man to record a 59 on the PGA Tour, as he had to settle for a still-impressive opening round of 63 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Fowler was an unremarkable one-under after his first nine, having started on the 10th, and would have been frustrated with himself after missing a two-foot putt for par on his seventh hole of the day.

But he sprung into life on the back nine, beginning with an eagle before adding six birdies in seven holes to leave himself sitting at nine-under coming to the last.

But that hole would prove his downfall, dumping his straightforward approach shot into the water on the way to an ugly double-bogey that left him with a seven-under total around the par-70 Colonial Country Club course.

"Sixty-three to start out with is pretty awesome," Fowler, who came back in 29, said. "It's not always fun to finish with a double but I played well.

"I hit the ball well and I rolled it really well. It's a little bit of a sour way to finish but I'm excited to move on to tomorrow. I like this course a lot. It's been good to me.

"I don't think I've ever had [a 29] with a double, no. But it was fun."

The 22-year-old's round still wasn't quite good enough to take the clubhouse lead after round one, however, as David Toms - fresh off defeat in a playoff at the Players Championship last week - produced a bogey-free round of 62 to move to the top of the leaderboard once again, this time alongside Chez Reavie.

Sergio Garcia got his continued pursuit of a place in the world's top 50 off to a reasonable start, firing five birdies and just one bogey on the way to a four-under round of 66.

Meanwhile the only Englishman in the field in Texas, Brian Davis, opened with a level-par round of 70, pairing a two-under front nine with a two-over back nine to leave him with work to do going into Friday's second round.

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