On a course where the field averaged just below 67 on Saturday it was always going to take an uncommonly low score to win at The Greenbrier, an old West Virginia resort course made famous by Sam Snead's life-long professional attachment to it.

So it proved to be and that uncommonly low score was achieved by Stuart Appleby - his 11-under-par 59 being one of the great rounds in US Tour history.

The Victorian has been playing this season in order to rescue a career that took an unexpected and disastrous turn last year when he fell from the 22nd place on the 2008 money list to outside the top 125 players in 2009, a position that forced him to resort to using his career earnings status to earn a place in the fields.

Appleby played the front nine in a shot over even threes and finished with a pair of birdies for his extraordinary score - the fifth time in Tour history that a player has broken the magical 60 barrier.

Jeff Overton, the leader overnight came behind, missed a short second putt for a birdie at the par-five 17th and three at the final hole was only a par and he finished one shot adrift of the Australian.

Appleby's horrible 2009 season occurred, perhaps coincidentally, after a change of equipment manufacturer and that meant a new set of clubs and a new ball. One would think that in an age where computers can match equipment to individual swings, it would be a simple task to move from one set of clubs to another but it is rarely that easy. Appleby had played his whole professional career with one company and it takes only tiny amount of doubt to lead to more doubt and there begins what can be a never-ending cycle of poor results.

So it was with Appleby late last year but there was a ray of light at the New South Wales Golf Club in the Australian Open when he opened with two of the finest consecutive rounds ever played in Australia. He played in the worst of the weather and, even though he did not end up winning the championship, showed at least that he was more than capable of world-class golf.

The win was another for the foreign contingent of players in America and continued what has been the most successful ever run of non-American winners on the US Tour.

Englishman Justin Rose won in Ohio and Philadelphia, Graeme McDowell took the US Open, Lee Westwood was successful in Memphis, Swede Carl Petterson won in Canada last week and the South African Louis Oosthuizen triumphed at St Andrews.

A part of that success may be a result of the relative non-success of the distracted Tiger Woods and the second-best American Phil Mickelson, who hasn't done that well - certainly in terms of winning - aside from a triumphant week at Augusta.

This week the tour moves to Akron in Ohio for the World Golf Championship at Firestone and next week it is the year's fourth major, the PGA Championship, at Whistling Straits.

The results will determine the final outcome of the Ryder Cup sides for Europe and America, and they will present Woods with a last chance to rescue his worst season as a pro.

The PGA is also the final opportunity for the Australians to do something significant in a major championship. Robert Allenby and Adam Scott tied for 27th in The Open and were the leading Australians at St Andrews and, whilst a tie for 27th is hardly a poor performance, it's hard to remember a major championship in recent times when that was the high Australian finish.

Appleby's play this week will boost his hopes and the other Australians, including Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy, John Senden, Jason Day, Mark Leishman and Allenby, should be motivated by the success of the Europeans and the South Africans who are changing the face of golf with their brilliant play.