Phil Mickelson was millimetres from making Major Championship history as he fired a brilliant 63 on day one of The 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon.
No player has ever shot a 62 in a Major but birdies on the 14th, 16th and 17th in a barnstorming finish handed Mickelson the opportunity to become the first if he could make another birdie up the last.
The American got a touch of good fortune to stay out of a bunker off his drive and when he put his approach to around 18 feet, history was beckoning. Mickelson's putt then looked for all the world as if it was going to find the bottom of the cup but the ball agonisingly broke right and lipped round the back of the hole.
Mickelson's remarkable round did make history as it set a new course record at Troon and he became just the 26th player to fire a 63 in a Major with Greg Norman and Vijay Singh having done it twice.
Hiroshi Iwata was the last man to achieve the feat at last year's US PGA Championship, while the last person to do it at The Open was Rory McIlroy in 2010.
"That putt on 18 was an opportunity to do something historical," he said. "I knew it and with a foot to go I thought I had done it. I saw that ball rolling right in the centre.
It was one of the best rounds I've ever played and I was able to take advantage of these conditions and yet I want to shed a tear right now - Phil Mickelson
"I went to go get it, I had that surge of adrenaline that I had just shot 62 and then I had the heartbreak that I didn't and watched that ball lip out. It was - wow - that stings.
"It really stings to have a chance. It's such a rare opportunity to do something historic like that. If I had just hit a weak flail-off and never had a chance and left it short, so be it. But this ball was hunting right in the centre and didn't go. It was just heartbreaking."
Before his spectacular finish Mickelson had made birdies on the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth.
On the bright side for the left-hander, Mickelson's stunning effort handed him a three-shot first round lead over countryman Patrick Reed and Germany's Martin Kaymer .
Reed's 66 had equalled the record for the lowest opening round in an Open Championship at Troon before Mickelson blew that away on a day of perfect scoring conditions in Scotland.
The opening holes were providing the best of the scoring and Reed was one of a host of players to take advantage, holing his approach to the par four third before making further gains on the fourth, sixth and seventh.
A bogey on the tenth halted his momentum but he picked the shot back up on the 12th. Another bogey followed on the 13th but a brilliant approach to the last set up a closing gain.
Kaymer - searching for a third Major Championship - has spoken recently of how he feels his game may be peaking at the right time, and he was bogey-free with a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth and further gains on the tenth and 16th.
Dane Søren Kjeldsen and England's Andy Sullivan were then in the group at four under alongside defending champion Zach Johnson, with Justin Rose, Soomin Lee, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Richard Sterne and Thomas Pieters among those a shot further back.
World Number Four Rory McIlroy was two under, with local favourite and eight-time Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie at level par.
