Dier provides explosives at TNT

Germany's Tobias Dier equalled the lowest ever score on the European Tour with a superb 60 in the first round of the TNT Open…

Germany's Tobias Dier equalled the lowest ever score on the European Tour with a superb 60 in the first round of the TNT Open.

Dier carded 10 birdies, six of them in an inward half of 29, to card the 10th 60 on tour at Hilversum, and had a putt on the last to create history with a magical 59.

His long-range eagle attempt slipped past the hole, but the birdie was enough to give him a five-shot lead over former Ryder Cup players Ronan Rafferty and David Gilford and local favourite Chris Van Der Velde.

"I'm still not on earth, I'm somewhere in orbit," said the 25-year-old from Nuremberg, who had missed the cut in 12 of his last 15 events. "It will feel great in a few minutes.

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"I've never had a score like this, 60 is a number everybody dreams of."

Dier had also fired an albatross on the 18th in yesterday's pro-am, a repeat of which would have seen him round in 58 this afternoon.

"I thought about it when I hit my second shot," added Dier. "It was straight at the pin [with a 4-iron] but just a bit too long. When I holed my 3-wood yesterday I thought 'why I am doing it in the pro-am and not the tournament?"'

Dyer's longest birdie putt was from 25 feet on the 17th, and he missed from just eight feet on the 15th and 16th as he took advantage of the perfect playing conditions.

It was his lowest ever round by five shots and came completely out of the blue, as did his first tournament win in Ireland last year, the only time he made the cut in 13 events.

It has been a similar tale of woe for Rafferty, the former European number one who has made just two cuts in his last 29 events, one in 19 starts last year and one in 10 so far this season.

"I've been driving very badly for the last couple of seasons so the last three months have been about finding a method to get myself on the golf course," said the 38-year-old from Newry, Northern Ireland, who missed two seasons with a serious thumb injury.

"It might not be the prettiest thing but if I aim left and cut it I can find the fairway. I've never had the greatest swing but it gets the job done and today that's the emphasis more than ever."

Rafferty finished 243rd on the Order of Merit last year and is only exempt for this season due to his position in the top 40 on the career money list, but has never thought of hanging up his spikes.

"I'm in the very lucky position that I love to play golf and I know that a lot of my fellow professionals don't," Rafferty added. "I know they wouldn't play any social golf and hate pro-ams but I don't have any problem going out to play golf.

"It has been a struggle but as long as we occasionally play the odd decent golf course in a tournament I will probably come out and play.

"I haven't been playing well enough to fight myself out of a paper bag and getting to play the weekends now is a big deal."