Fisher shoots European Tour’s first 59
No longer will Oli Fisher only be known as Rory Mcilroy’s close friend – he has his own golfing immortality now.
The 30-year-old from Essex became the first player in the history of the European Tour to shoot a 59 – and did so after fearing he was going to miss the cut at the Portugal Masters.
It says so much about Fisher’s feat that despite a $10million bonus being up for grabs here at East Lake and despite Tiger Woods and another Englishman in Justin Rose taking the halfway lead to set themselves up for a possible $11.8million payday tomorrow, the talk on the range focused on the Algarve.
Rose, himself, sent his congratulations and so he should. It honestly felt like a curse had at last been broken.
For 46 years and more than 690,000 rounds, the European Tour had waited for a player to record the magical sub-60 number. The PGA Tour has witnessed 10 of them – and even, for Jim Furyk, a 58 – but for the game’s other main circuit the ball would not just drop.
Fisher was not the not most obvious candidate to smash the ceiling. The world No287 came to the Victoria course in Vilamoura having missed his last two cuts and three of the last four.
“I was just trying to make the weekend,” Fisher said, after 10 birdies and an eagle. “But after birdieing the first three holes it was at the back of my mind.”
By the time he had holed an eight-footer on the 15th to go 11-under for the day it was very much at the forefront. Fisher bravely converted a 20-footer for par on the 16th. And that set him up for a two-puttt birdie on the parfive 17th . All that was left was a regulation par on the 18th and the celebrations could begin.
From being in a tie for 93rd at the start of the day, Fisher is in a tie for the lead on 12-under with countryman Eddie Pepperell and Australian Lucas Herbert.
Meanwhile, courtesy of a 67 and a 68 respectively, Rose, the world No1, and Woods are two clear of Mcilroy, with the Irishman shooting 68. Rose has a chance of becoming the first Englishman to land the game’s biggest cheque and what a boost that would be to Europe going into next week’s Ryder Cup.