Major championship golf has been played for well over a century between the men's and women's tours, and nobody had ever shot lower than 10-under in a single round. Haeran Ryu beat that number by a full shot on Saturday at the Amundi Evian Championship, carding an 11-under 60 that stands alone as the lowest round in major history, men's or women's, regular tour or senior tour.
Ryu stood over a putt on 18 with a chance at just the second 59 in LPGA Tour history.
For most of the back nine it looked like she might do something even crazier. Only one player has ever shot 59 on the LPGA Tour — Annika Sorenstam, back in 2001 — and Ryu had a putt on the par-5 18th to join her. The 30-footer for eagle slid just off line, leaving her with a 60 instead. Not a bad consolation prize: it's the number that now sits by itself atop major championship history.
Golf Channel's broadcast leaderboard showed the 'Putt For 59' graphic before Ryu settled for 60 and an 18-under total.
The round itself was absurd on paper. Ryu turned in a 29 on her front nine, and it wasn't just a string of tap-in birdies — she holed out for eagle along the way to really blow the round open. By the time she signed her card, she'd built a 3-shot lead heading into the final round, sitting at 19-under for the tournament. The previous major record of 10-under had been reached three separate times, and all three of those rounds came at this same tournament, the Evian Championship, which has quietly become the place where scoring records go to die.
What made it stranger is that Ryu reportedly didn't even realize what she was doing until she got to the 18th green and started adding up the scorecard. That's the kind of round where you're just playing golf, not chasing history, until the numbers on the leaderboard do the talking for you. Given the pace she was playing at, it's no surprise she had a moment once it actually hit her.
The reaction on the green as it sank in that she'd just posted the lowest round in major history.
Ryu comes into this weekend already having broken through with her first major title at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship last month, so this isn't some no-name torching a leaderboard out of nowhere — it's a player who's clearly figured something out at the highest level of women's golf right when it matters most. A 3-shot cushion with a round to go is comfortable, but nothing is safe until it's over, and now every eye at Evian will be on whether she can close out a second major in as many months on the back of the most ridiculous round the sport has ever seen at this level.