John Catlin carded the first sub-60 round in Asian Tour history on Saturday, his 11-under-par 59 catapulting him into the lead at the International Series Macau. The American rolled home a curling, left-to-right 15-foot putt on the final green for an eagle three as he moved to 18 under par after three rounds. “I never, never, never thought I’d shoot 59,” said a delighted, but slightly stunned, Catlin. He has a two-shot cushion over LIV Golf’s Jason Kokrak, who carded an eight-under-par 62, at the top of the leaderboard at the $2 million event with one round to play. Catlin, who was the Asian Tour player of the year in 2018, got off to a blistering start in his third round, draining six birdies for a front nine of 28 on the par-70 coastal layout at Macau Golf and Country Club. He sank three more on the 11th, 13th and 17th before his beautifully judged eagle on the 564-yard, par-five 18th capped a historic round of golf. “I didn’t realise I shot 28 on the front nine so the magic number wasn’t really in my head until the 17th,” said Catlin. “It’s a 239-yard par three, downhill 41 yards, so you’re not really trying to make a birdie. “It actually got a little closer than I was trying,” he smiled .“I was able to bury that one and I figured, well, three down the last. And just hit two beautiful shots in there. “The putt was a big, left-to-right swinger and I just happened to get the pace and the line right.” Sub-60 rounds are extremely rare in golf.
