Sport

A slice of the action in 1999

Best (US): Up to last January, the magical 59 had been done only twice on the USPGA Tour

Tue Dec 21 1999 - 00:00

Best (US): Up to last January, the magical 59 had been done only twice on the USPGA Tour. The first time was by Al Geiberger at Colonial CC, Memphis with the help of preferred lies in 1977 and the second time was by Chip Beck in the third round of the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational.

But this one was different. David Duval had to shoot a 59 to win the Bob Hope Classic at 6,950-yard par-72 PGA West on January 24th. And it meant carding an eagle at the 543-yard 72nd hole.

This he did with a huge drive which left him needing only a five-iron second shot over water to the green. And when the ball came to rest six feet from the pin, Duval proceeded to sink the putt for what was arguably the finest scoring round in the history of the game. The player's reaction: "I felt a little juiced coming down the last fairway."

As it happened, Duval had to wait for Steve Pate in the final group of the day before knowing that the first weekend 59 in the US, had been good enough.

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Best (Europe): Students of golfcourse architecture may find it interesting that the lowest round in Europe this year was shot on an Arnold Palmer-designed course, just like PGA West, which was the scene of Duval's 59. In the event, Darren Clarke shot a second round 60 in the Smurfit European Open on the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Starting on the 10th, Clarke got into an irrepressible mood with three birdies in his opening four holes to reach the turn in 31 - five under par. By that stage, he had started a run of eight birdies with a four at the long 18th to equal a European record.

But he was after a bigger prize, which required one more birdie from the last two holes. With a huge crowd now watching his every stroke, he hit his approach to within 10 feet right of the pin at the eighth - his 17th. But the ball slipped agonisingly past the target. Still, there was a chance.

Down the ninth, Clarke's approach came up 20 feet short of the target but the aggressively-struck putt didn't have quite the right line. "Opportunities to break 60 don't come too often," he said afterwards. "I had a fantastic opportunity and it would have meant an awful lot to do it at home in Ireland."