Dream round puts Dixon back on course to earn card

With his future on the line, Somerset's David Dixon had the chance to do something every golfer dreams about yesterday: shoot a round of 59. Then the 26-year-old told himself to stop being a clown.

In the penultimate round of the European tour qualifying school here in Spain, Dixon went to the turn in a seven-under 29, then added three more birdies and stood on the final fairway knowing he had to hole a 120-yard pitch to break 60.

"I was thinking of it, but then I said, 'Just get it over the water, you clown'," Dixon said. He put it over the green then made a nine-foot putt for a 61 that took him from joint 46th to eighth. The leading 35 this afternoon earn cards for next season.

Dixon is therefore back on course to rescue a rookie season that promised much but turned rotten with only one cut made in his last 15 starts. Dixon finished 158th on the Order of Merit. "Your first year on tour can go either way. I've played better than I've scored and I've learnt a lot from it," he said.