Ferrie just misses out on 59

Kenneth Ferrie fired a round of 60 but Paul Lawrie leads by one entering the final round of the Open de Andalucia in Malaga.

Ferrie, languishing at 336th in the world rankings, had made the cut right on the mark and there was little sign of what was to follow on ‘moving day’.

The Geordie, whose fortunes have taken a turn for the worse since his European Open victory in 2005, went to the turn in three under par before blitzing the back nine.

Five more birdies and an eagle saw him come home in 29 and record the 14th round of 60 on the European Tour without the help of preferred lies, a score that has never been bettered this side of the Atlantic.

His approach to the difficult 18th needed to drop for the 59, but despite a great effort it came to rest inches from the cup.

“It was unspectacular, but spectacular at the same time,” he reflected. “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.

Struggle

“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.”

Ferrie set the early benchmark and Lawrie was the only player to better it late in the day, the former Open champion recording a flawless round of 65 to finish on 12 under par, meaning he has had just one bogey this week.

“The pleasing thing is to go out and shoot five-under when you need to,” he told Sky Sports. “I played lovely. The putter’s working a bit better, in the middle a few slipped away, but even I can’t moan about being unlucky today.

“Overall it was a great day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’s almost like playing llinks golf out there and that’s what I like to play.”

England’s Mark Foster also went round in 65 to join Ferrie one shot back, while the same score leaves Johan Edfors of Sweden a further two behind.

Nothing less than a 65 sufficed with Monday’s winner in Sicily Raphael Jacquelin and Jose Manuel Lara moving into contention with five-under-par rounds, to lie four off the pace alongside Felipe Aguilar of Chile.

But it was a disappointing day for the three joint leaders at halfway, none of whom advanced their position.

Maarten Lafeber fired a one-over-par 71 while Rikard Karlberg and Jeppe Huldahl carded 72s to slip six shots off the pace.