Ireland’s Peter Lawrie threatened to record the first ever 59 on the European Tour on Saturday, but was forced to settle for a round of 62 in the Omega European Masters.

Lawrie carded nine birdies in his first 14 holes at Crans-sur-Sierre, meaning he needed to find two more in the last four holes to break the magical 60 barrier on the par-70 layout.

However, the 40-year-old Dubliner was unable to take advantage of the par-five 15th and then bogeyed the short 16th to see his chance of creating history disappear.

Having made the cut on the mark of one under par, Lawrie’s round was enough to move him more than 50 places up the leaderboard but he is still five adrift of on-course leader Jamie Donaldson .

A good finish over the weekend would give Lawrie a real shot in the arm as he fights to hang on to his card for next year. Currently 189th on the Race to Dubai rankings, with only the top 110 retaining their playing rights, Lawrie is only to aware that every cent helps at this time of the season.

More low scoring again looked to be on the cards, meanwhile, with Shane Lowry and Gareth Maybin both carding early birdies to move to 10 under.

Donaldson opened with birdies on the first and third as overnight leader Richie Ramsay tumbled down the leaderboard.

The 2012 champion had dropped just one shot in the first two days, but bogeyed the first, third and fourth to drop back to nine under and suddenly five off the pace.

Italy’s Edoardo Molinari had moved into second place on 12 under thanks to four birdies in six holes, including holing a bunker shot on the third.