Oliver Fisher shot the first 59 in European Tour history in Friday's second round of the 2018 Portugal Masters, finally breaking the lid on a sub-60 score since the tour's founding in 1972.
Fisher, who shot even-par 71 in the opening round, made 10 birdies and an eagle against no bogeys to vault into the lead when he finished up his round.
The Englishman got out the gate hot, making three consecutive birdies to start the round. Fisher then made one of his seven pars on the round before carding his lone eagle in the par-5 fifth hole. Another pair of birdies had Fisher out in 7-under 28 and staring at history.
Fisher continued to roll on the back nine, making the crucial 10th birdie of the round on the par-5 17th, a hole he bogeyed in Round 1. On the 18th hole after a perfect drive and a solid approach to find the green in regulation, Fisher nearly holed his birdie putt for 58. It caught the lip but didn't fall, leaving Fisher with a simple tap-in to secure the European Tour's first 59 at the site where he saved his tour card a few seasons ago.
5️⃣ 9️⃣#PortugalMasters pic.twitter.com/SDUGLA3SPS
— 🚨59 on the European Tour🚨 (@EuropeanTour) September 21, 2018
“It was a great day, my caddie was great, it was very different to a couple of years ago on this green fighting to keep my card," Fisher said. "I had that in the back of my mind, thinking 'Do you know what? Things could be worse.'
“It was fun, I tried to enjoy it and thankfully I got over the line.”
Before Fisher on Friday, there had been 19 rounds of 60 in over 680,000 rounds. The European Tour does not recognize rounds played under preferred lies, so that's why there has never been a sub-60 official round. And that includes years when the European Tour played on par-69 courses.
