Coltart reaches cloud nine

Andrew Coltart equalled the lowest nine holes in European Tour history as Stefan Langer posted one of the highest scores ever in the first round of the KLM Open.

Coltart birdied seven holes in a row from the 10th – one short of the tour record for consecutive birdies – in a back nine of 27 at Zandvoort, matching the record held by Jose Maria Canizares, Joakim Haeggman, Simon Khan and Robert Lee (twice).

That gave the former Ryder Cup player a share of second place on five under-par, one behind Japan’s Taichi Teshima and France’s Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, and an amazing 33 shots better than Langer, the 17-year-old son of double US Masters champion Bernhard.

Making his European Tour debut on a sponsor’s invite, Stefan covered the back nine in 45 – 18 shots worse than Coltart – and the front nine in 53, including a 12 at the par-five second where he lost two balls off the tee and declared his third unplayable.

The teenager plays off a handicap of plus one but is making major changes to his swing and has been struggling for the past few months.

“I was afraid it might happen,” Langer senior admitted after carding a 67 on his return to action following surgery to remove kidney stones. “I knew he was not playing well the last few weeks or months even.

“He is trying to make some changes but if you hit it sideways here, you’re going to lose some balls.”

It looked like Stefan would not be able to break 100 but, watched by his father, the youngster holed from 35ft for par on the ninth to at least finish in style.

Mark James’ 111 in the 1978 Italian Open is the highest recorded score on the European Tour, while Anders Forsbrand was heading for a three-figure total in the 1994 French Open before running out of balls on the 18th.

“There are two ways to react,” added Langer, who celebrates his 50th birthday next Monday and will make his seniors debut in that week’s Champions Tour event at Pebble Beach.

“You either stick in or put your head in the sand and give up. I don’t think that’s what he is made of but we will find out. I think he should go out tomorrow and try to enjoy it and keep working on his game.

“The last two months he has struggled tremendously. Six months ago when I committed to this event, he was playing a lot better.”

Stefan, who caddied for his father when he partnered Marcel Siem to victory in the World Cup in Barbados last December, said: “It’s discouraging but I will stick with it.

“Obviously I didn’t score as well as I would like to but I hit only one fairway and not many greens and you can’t score like that.

“This is probably one of the most punishing courses out there if you miss the fairway but I thought it was a good opportunity to learn and it’s better than walking outside the ropes.”

Coltart has not won a tour title since 2001 and is a lowly 161st on the Order of Merit, and was at a loss to explain his change in fortune after a front nine of 38.

“Ironically I said to my caddie on the 10th tee that I’d had two birdies in the last 45 holes and then I make seven in a row,” said the 37-year-old. “I wish I’d said it to him much earlier.

“It’s nice for something like that to happen. It’s some fresh memories to hold onto rather than trying to dig up some of the old ones.

“It’s tough to play when you’re not getting anything out of it. You just feel like you’re treading water and getting washed out to sea.”