This date in sports: Paul Goydos shoots a 59

After four months of shabby play on the PGA Tour, Long Beach’s Paul Goydos turned his season around when fired a 59 on this date in 2010 in the opening round of the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill.

Goydos’ 59 was the first on the tour since David Duval’s memorable final round in the 1999 Bob Hope Classic. Al Geiberger was the first player to shoot a 59 in the second round of the 1977 Memphis Classic. And Chip Beck became the second player to join Club 59 when he fired the same score in 1991 in the third round of the Las Vegas Invitational.

Goydos, who had only two victories in 18 years on the PGA Tour, shot a 28 on the front nine. “I have been very good at playing poorly now for the last 10 tournaments or so. I don’t know where it came from,� he said after the round.

Defending champion Steve Stricker was just one shot back with a 60 and just missed tying Goydos on the 18th hole.

Here is a look at memorable games and outstanding sports performances on this date:

1939 — Amateur Bobby Riggs, 21, beats fellow American Elwood Cooke in five sets 2-6, 8-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. Riggs, who is the No. 1 player in the world at the time, takes the first of his three major championships. Defending Wimbledon champion Don Budge is ineligible after he turns professional in 1938.

1941 — Ted Williams, 22, of the Boston Red Sox hits a three-run, two-out home run in the ninth inning off Claude Passeau of the Chicago Cubs that gives the American League a 7-5 victory in the All-Star Game at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Williams, who is in the midst of hitting .406 for the 1941 season, says the walk-off home run is the “most thrilling hit of my life.�

1967 — Billie Jean King gets a Wimbledon trifecta when she wins three championships at the All-England Club. First, she beats Britain’s Ann Hayden Jones in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 for the women’s singles title, teams with Rosie Casals to top Maria Bueno and Nancy Richey 9-11, 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the women’s doubles and finally pairs with Australian Owen Davidson for a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Bueno and Ken Fletcher in the mixed doubles final.

1994 — Boston shortstop John Valentin pulls off the 10th unassisted triple play in baseball history in the sixth inning of a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners. With runners going from first and second, Valentin catches a line drive off the bat of Marc Newfield, steps on second base to double up Mike Blowers, then trots a few steps to tag out Keith Mitchell. It is the first unassisted triple play since Mickey Morandini made one for Philadelphia against Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, 1992.

2000 — Venus Williams, 20, is the first Black women’s Wimbledon champion since Althea Gibson in 1958 when she beats Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the singles final for her first Grand Slam title. She joins her sister Serena as the first pair of siblings in tennis history to each own a Grand Slam singles championship. Serena won the French Open in 1999.

2000 — Pitchers Dwight Gooden and Roger Clemens team up to defeat the New York Mets twice and give the New York Yankees identical 4-2 victories in the first double-ballpark doubleheader in baseball since 1903. After the opener at Shea Stadium, many in the sellout crowd of 54,165 immediately head for Game 2, which draws 55,821 at Yankee Stadium. Game 1 had been rescheduled after a rainout on June 11.

2012 — Roger Federer of Switzerland spoils a British Centre Court party when he ties Pete Sampras’ record of seven men’s singles titles at Wimbledon by beating Scotland’s Andy Murray in four dazzling and tense sets, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. The victory is also Federer’s 17th Grand Slam title and he reclaims the No. 1 ranking for the third time in his career.

2012 — Na Yeon Choi of South Korea, who starts the final round with a six-shot lead, survives a triple bogey and a few more shaky moments on the back nine to win the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis. Choi, 24, shoots a one-over-par 71 to finish four strokes ahead of fellow South Korean Amy Yang. It is her first major title and sixth victory on the LPGA tour.

2014 — Germany hands Brazil its worst World Cup defeat with a shocking 7-1 smashing in the semifinals that stuns the host nation at Rio de Janeiro. Miroslav Klose scores a record-setting 16th goal, surpassing Brazil’s Ronaldo as the tournament’s all-time scorer during a five-goal spree in the first 29 minutes. Germany advances and beats Argentina in the final 1-0.

SOURCES: The Times, Associated Press