Annika Sörenstam wrote a line into the record books that professional golf had never seen. On Friday 16 March 2001 at Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix, she signed for a 13‑under‑par 59 in the second round of the Standard Register Ping — the first sub‑60 round ever posted by a woman on a professional tour.
Twelve birdies in a perfect storm
Sörenstam started her round on the back nine and simply did not stop making birdies. She reeled off eight in a row, stood 12‑under after only 13 holes and looked as if she might push the number somewhere unthinkable.
On a late hole she faced a 20‑foot eagle putt that had to roll through a swale. She paced the distance, stepped back, then ran the ball within eight inches for a tap‑in birdie. The quiet around the green was so complete that a dove cooing in a tree was the loudest sound until the applause broke.
A round without a mistake
Her card showed 13 birdies, five pars and zero bogeys. She hit all 18 greens in regulation, found 13 of 14 fairways off the tee and used only 25 putts. The 28 she shot on the front nine equalled the LPGA nine‑hole record of the day.
She even brushed a lower mark: a putt for 58 on the final green slid narrowly past before she tapped in for the 59. “I can’t believe what I just did,” she told reporters afterwards, still absorbing the weight of the moment.
From one record round to a historic win
The round blew open a two‑stroke improvement on the previous LPGA low of 61, a number Sörenstam herself had shared with Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak. It also put her eight shots clear before she held off a fierce Sunday charge from Pak, who drew level with four holes to play.
A 25‑foot birdie from Sörenstam on the 16th restored control, and her closing 68 produced a 72‑hole total of 27‑under 261 — another tour record, one shot better than Webb’s mark from 1999. It was her second win in as many weeks and the 25th of a career already heavy with major silverware.
At 30 years old, already a Hall‑of‑Famer‑in‑waiting, she had delivered the one number nobody else could claim. Twenty years later it remains the LPGA Tour’s only sub‑60 round.
