The First Fifty-Nine

Annika Sorenstam began the second round of the 2001 Standard Register Ping at Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix with little sign of what was coming, and then birdied eight holes in a row on the front nine, a run that would be a career highlight on its own for most professionals.

She reached the turn in 27 and kept the round going. By the back nine she knew exactly what was in reach and, by her own account, made a point of not adding it up hole by hole. A final birdie sealed the 13-under-par 59, the first sub-60 round in LPGA Tour history, on a course and in conditions that were giving nothing away.

She won the tournament outright as well, though that is not the part anyone brings up. More than two decades later, no other player has broken 60 in LPGA competition.