Frenchman Adrien Mörk carded the first official score of 59 in the history of The European, Challenge and Seniors Tours during the second round of the Tikida Hotels Agadir Moroccan Classic on Friday.
The 26 year old produced a quite miraculous performance at the Challenge Tour event at the Golf du Soleil in Agadir, which, added to his opening round of 63, gave him a 36 hole total of 20 under par 122, and saw him replace Tiger Woods and Frankie Minoza in the Tour’s record books as the holder of lowest opening 36 hole score on any of the three Tours.
That unbelievable 122, 20 under par total also eclipses Ernie Els’s Tour record of the lowest opening 36 hole score in relation to par, while the 19 birdies he has produced over the opening two days in Morocco account for the most scored by any player over two rounds in the history of all three tours.
Mörk’s dream round began on the tenth tee at the Golf du Soleil. He duly birdied his first hole of the day and followed it up with another five on is way to the turn, posting an ‘outward’ nine of 29 to set up an attempt at that so often tantalising total of 59 strokes.
He began the ‘back’ nine with a par on the first, and then looked to have blown his hopes of scoring golf’s most magical of numbers with a double bogey on the par four second.
Not to be undone on what would prove to be a day of destiny, Mörk duly eagled the par five third to immediately cancel out the single aberration on his card, but, with six holes still to play and in need of a further six birdies, the Frenchman still had it all to do.
With every hole came another birdie and as Mörk reached the eighth tee – his 17th – he realised that he had a chance to write his name in the history books by picking up two more birdies.
“It was only then that I really thought about 59,” he said, “and that brought quite a lot of pressure because how many times will a golfer have the chance to do that?
“I managed to birdie the eighth and then on the last I just stiffed my approach to the green – it was a great pitch and it stopped about three feet from the hole. Now, those are the kinds of putts you want for a 59! I just made sure that I wasn’t going to miss it – there was no chance that I was missing that one.
“It feels like a dream to have done this. I honestly can’t describe the way I feel because I do not think I fully realise what I have done yet, I just feel great, but also quite numb. I had never been that close to a 59 before, and this is certainly the best I have ever played, and it is an honour to break so many records for European golf.”
Mörk’s incredible 20 under par total gives him a ten stroke lead going into the weekend at the Golf du Soleil. Columbia’s Jorge Benedetti and Spain’s Rafael Cabrera Bello are tied second on ten under 132, and will lead the chasing pack as they try and catch the runaway leader over the final 36 holes.
