MILAN (Reuters) - Nicolas Colsaerts became the 11th player to fire eight successive birdies on the European Tour as the Belgian surged to the top of the leaderboard after the Italian Open first round on Thursday.
The former Ryder Cup player started his round at the 10th hole and produced his spectacular run from the 14th to the third.
Colsaerts' flawless nine-under-par 63 gave him a two-stroke lead over Italian Francesco Molinari, Shiv Kapur of India and Swede Kristoffer Broberg.
However, his run of birdies will not go down in the record books because preferred lies were being used at the Golf Club Milano.