Patrick Reed has become only the second player in Asian Tour history to break 60 after the LIV Golf star carded a sublime 11-under-par 59 in Saturday’s third round at the Hong Kong Open.

Reed kept a bogey off the card in Hong Kong, making an incredible 11 birdies on the way to shooting a famous round at the International Series event. Unsurprisingly, his showing catapulted him up the leaderboard to 18-under-par, giving the former PGA Tour star a three-shot lead with 18 holes left to play.

Reed broke the 60 mark by making four birdies across his final four holes, which included a superb double-break putt on the 18th green that sealed his historic round.

Remarkably though, the 4Aces star admitted his day did not exactly get off to the perfect start. “Yeah, you know, it was kind of one those days,” he said post-round. “I got up, I felt a little tight but felt ready to go and got out here and had probably one of the worst warm-ups ever.

“I looked at my caddie, and he goes, hey, a warm-up is a warm-up, let’s go out and just play golf. He goes, some of your best rounds have come from a poor warm-up. And you know, I stepped up on that first tee and did a great drive, and then from that point on, just quality iron shots.

“Leaving myself a lot of really good looks, and was able to make a lot of putts.” It turned out to be one of the best showings of Reed’s career to date and puts him in a prime spot to secure a first professional victory in almost four years, the last coming at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour.

“I just feel I was on cruise control out there,” Reed added. “You know, it’s kind little bit different type of nerves, coming out on that last after birdie on 17. You know, I have the opportunity to shoot 59, so I told my caddie, ‘Hey, we birdie here and we get it done’.

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“It is not a very fun tee shot to hit when you have to hit a fairway.” He went on: “I just tried to dive into the whole moment [of the final putt]. When I was over every golf shot I was not thinking about a score, I was diving into my routine, diving into the reads. Whether it was quiet or whether there was noise going on, I was still focused on trying to execute the golf shot as best I can.

“I think that allows me to block everything out and at the end of the day it was a putt for 59, so if you take the situation from it it is an 18-footer and double breaker. You still have to make the putt and the only way doing that is by putting a good roll on it and fully committing to the line.

Reed’s week started well, after the LIV star carded a five-under 65 in round one, with his only blemish coming at his final hole of the day. The 4Aces star halted somewhat a day later though, as he was forced to settle for a two-under 68 which left him work to do heading into the weekend.

He more than made up for his steady Friday though, after bursting into the lead on Saturday, and now he will be looking to become a winner on the Asian Tour for the first time.