Clarke's amazing 60

It was an intriguing, well-intentioned slip by Ian Woosnam, who was acting as Darren Clarke's marker. Though the figures for the individual holes were correct, the Welshman handed Clarke a card in the recorder's room, on which the nines added up to 30 and 29 - a combined 59.

"Thanks very much Woosie," said the Irishman with a wry smile, "but I had a 60, not a 59." His marker, all too aware of the bitterly disappointing near-miss, made an embarrassed apology. And remarkably, on the last occasion that Clarke shot 60, in the Monte Carlo Open of 1962, his marker, Ken Brown, made a similar mistake.

Minutes earlier, as the ball sailed towards the final green, Woosnam had urged: "Get up there - go!" But it still came to rest 24 feet short of the flag from where Darren Clarke had to settle for two putts and a round of 60 at The K Club on Saturday. Despite the Tyroneman's disappointment, it has since been acknowledged as probably the finest round to have been played in the 27-year history of the European Tour. Though eight previous 60s have been carded, including the Monte Carlo effort by Clarke, only two were on par-72 course and none compared in length with the 7,179 yards of The K Club.

Miguel Angel Martin, who shot a magical in the 1987 South Argentine Open, could imagine how the Irishman felt. "The last putt I made was longer than Darren's, about 30 feet," he recalled.

One fewer putt and Clarke would have broken three European Tour targets. Having started on the 10th, he needed one birdie from his last two holes to do it. But the pressure increased when, after a nine iron to 12 feet at the eighth, the right to left breaking birdie putt slipped past the right edge.

Huge crowds flanked the ninth fairway and surrounded the green in anticipation of an historic breakthrough. The drive was perfect but as he hit his wedge approach, Clarke sensed he had been cheated by a gust of wind, while Woosnam had similar fears.

As it happened, the ball came to rest little more than three feet into the green. And with the pin placed at nine yards, he had 24 feet remaining. On a right-to-left line, the putt was bold, so bold in fact that when it missed the target, the ball went a full five feet past, leaving Clarke with an unenviable return effort for a 60. But he made no mistake.

So, he had to content himself with equalling two records by shooting 12 birdies, while eight of them were successive. But he has become the only player to have achieved both of those targets in the one round. And there was also the satisfaction of being the first to shoot two rounds of 60 on the European Tour.

The first effort led him to purchase the number-plate DC 60. "It would be nice to have to change it," he said afterwards. "In fact I'm very disappointed. This was the best I have ever played and opportunities to break that number don't come along too often."

His figures for a round which he started on the 10th were:

4 4 3 5 4 4 4 3 5 36

Clarke: 3 3 3 4 4 4 3 3 4 31

Par (from 1st)

5 4 3 4 3 4 5 4 4 36

Clarke: 4 3 2 3 2 3 4 4 4 29