Jacobson joins the exclusive 60 club

It is not only Ulf Yngve Fredrik Jacobson's name that makes him different from other golf professionals nor the two mini-beards below his lip and under his chin.

Jesper Parnevik and Jarmo Sandelin sport even more garish golf garbs.

What separates the 28-year-old Swede from his two compatriots and all but 10 others on the European Tour is that he has shot 60.

Jacobson picked the Jack Nicklaus-designed Gut Larchenhof course - a tough test at 7,289 yards - to do the trick in yesterday's German Masters first round. He leads by three strokes from Korea's KJ Choi.

There have been only 11 other 60s in the 31 years of the European tour; Darren Clarke - who shot 65 yesterday - has had two but Bradley Dredge's in this year's Madeira Open did not count because preferred lies were being used.

Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval (on the US Tour) and Annika Sorenstam (on the US Women's Tour) have shot 59s.

Jacobson could have become the first to shoot a 59 on the European Tour with a birdie on the last hole yesterday to add to the 10, plus an eagle, he had already pocketed.

But he pulled his drive into the rough and his ball rolled into a hollow. He hacked out to the green side before slotting a 12-footer for par.

It was a brave putt, as were those of 12ft and 15ft to birdie the previous two holes.

Jacobson needed only 21 putts but only one was longer than five yards. "It was the perfect round; 63 was my previous best and being in there with a chance to shoot 59 was awesome," he confessed after clipping two strokes off Paul Casey's 12-month-old course record. "It was one of those days when I started playing well and kept it going for 18 holes."

"I told my caddie on the last 'Let's just get a putt for it' because the putter had been so hot - but unfortunately I couldn't do it."

With Ian Poulter contributing a seven-birdie 65, Colin Montgomerie, the third man in the group, looked positively embarrassed to have contributed a mere level-par 72.

Patience is a quality which is short supply for Colin Montgomerie at the moment, however, the Scot arriving in Cologne with his third caddie of the year after dispensing with the service of Steve Rawlinson after just four months.

New recruit Colin Cotter fared no better from the moment Montgomerie's second shot of the day came up short of the green and led to a bogey five, the Scot's round only good enough for a share of 87th place.

Clarke, who had 60s in 1992 in Monte Carlo and 1999 at The K Club, was playing in the match behind Jacobson.

Jacobson's fifth place in the US Open and sixth in the Open has swept him to 13th in the money list with more than £568,000 and earned him a 2004 US Tour card. It has also marked him as a strong candidate for a Ryder Cup berth next year.

"Unfortunately they came too early to count for qualifying points; I'm starting again from scratch this week," said Jacobson, who divides his time between the European and US Tours.

Clarke must have impressed his new fitness trainer, the former Great Britain rugby league player Steve Hampson, with his stamina, as he squeezed three birdies and an eagle into his back nine.

"I played okay and could have been three or four under after the first five holes, but I just made five pars which was disappointing.

"But I didn't push it, didn't try to force anything, tried my best to stay patient and eventually got my rewards which was pleasing."

"It was a fantastic effort from Freddie. There are chances round here right enough, but to shoot 60 is some golf."

Jacobson failed to birdie one of the four reachable par fives in perfect scoring conditions in Cologne.

Starting on the 10th, Jacobson began in the perfect fashion with a birdie from six feet, then holed from 35 feet on the 12th and got up and down from short of the par-five 13th.

Another birdie followed before he missed out on an opportunity on the par-five 15th by finding sand off the tee, but a birdie on the 17th was followed by one from 18 inches on the 18th to be out in 30.

Birdie number seven duly arrived from short range on the second and when he eagled the third as well from just eight feet, it was not only Casey's course record which was in danger.

Jacobson then birdied the fourth from five feet and had a great chance on the next as well, but pulled his birdie attempt from 12 feet left of the hole.

Another par on the sixth, where he found rough off the tee, left him needing to birdie the last three holes - and he kept his hopes alive with a birdie from 10 feet on the par-five seventh after a poor chip from short of the green.

It looked as though his birdie putt on the eighth was just going to miss, only to catch the right edge of the hole and leave him needing a birdie on the 469-yard ninth for a place in the history books.

But a drive into the left rough was followed by a second shot left of the green, and after chipping boldly 10 feet past, he deservedly holed for par.