18-Hole Scoring Record on the LPGA Tour
What is the all-time best score posted for 18 holes during an LPGA Tour tournament? That record is 59. There are also a handful of LPGA golfers who have recorded tournament rounds of 60. Notably, though, the first 59 on the LPGA happened before the first 60 did!
LPGA's 18-Hole Record: 59 by Annika
No surprise that Annika Sorenstam was the first LPGA golfer to shoot 59 in tournament play. It happened in 2001, so perhaps there is mild surprise that nobody else has done it since.Sorenstam's 59 happened during the 2001 Standard Register Ping tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. The golf course (Moon Valley Country Club) was set up as a par-72, so Sorenstam's 59 in the second round was 13-under par (which is also the tour record for most strokes under par in one round).
Sorenstam had a score of 28 on the front nine (matching the tour's then-record for best nine-hole score) and a 31 on the back nine. She had no bogeys during the round, not surprisingly, and made 13 birdies. Most of those birdies happened early: She reeled off eight consecutive birdies to start the round, and birdied 12 of the first 13 holes.
And Sorenstam did go on to win the tournament with a score of 27-under 261. It was the 25th win of her LPGA Tour career.
Whose 18-hole scoring record did Sorenstam break with her 59? As noted above, no LPGA golfer had shot 60 yet by the time of Sorenstam's 59. So the LPGA scoring record going into the 2001 season was 61.
Only three golfers had scored 61s to that point, and they were the "Big 3" of that LPGA era: Se Ri Pak, Sorenstam and Karrie Webb. So Annika's 59 broke the record of 61 she had shared with Pak and Webb. (Pak was the first to shoot 61 in an LPGA tournament at the 1998 Jamie Farr Kroger Classic.)
Rounds of 60 on the LPGA Tour
With only one 59 in LPGA Tour history so far, the other lowest scores in tour history are a handful of 60s that have followed Sorenstam's historic round. These are the golfers who have score 60 on the LPGA Tour:- Meg Mallon: Shot 30 on the front nine, 30 on the back nine on the par-70 Dell Urich Golf Course in Tucson, Arizona, in the second round of the 2003 Welch’s/Fry’s Championship.
- Sarah Lee: Shot 29 on the front nine, 31 on the back nine on the par-70 Dell Urich Golf Course in Tucson, Arizona, in the first round of the 2004 Welch’s/Fry’s Championship.
- Anna Acker-Macosko: Shot 31 on the front nine, 29 on the back nine on the par-71 The Ridge Golf Course in Auburn, California, in the fourth round of the 2004 Longs Drugs Challenge.
- Paula Creamer: Shot 33 on the front nine, 27 on the back nine on the par-71 Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, in the first round of the 2008 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
- Jessica Korda: Shot 32 on the front nine, 28 on the back nine on the par-71 Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in the third round of the 2021 Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.
- Linnea Strom: Shot 31 on the front nine, 29 on the back nine on the par-71 Seaview (Bay Course) in Galloway, New Jersey, in the third (final) round of the 2024 ShopRite LPGA Classic.
- Lucy Li: Li scored 60 in the final round of the 2024 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on the par-71 Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkansas. Li had a 32 on the front nine and a 28 on the back nine. That back-nine 28 included two eagles, one of them on the final hole.
