Bermuda professional Michael Sims fired himself into the golf history books with a stunning round of 59 at the e-Golf Tour's Southern Open in Salisbury, North Carolina on Thursday.Less than 20 pro golfers have broken the magical 60 barrier since Tour tournaments began.It's a score never achieved by golf's greats such as Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.Sims, who lost his Nationwide Tour (now known as the Web.com Tour) card last year and has been playing on smaller circuits such as e-Golf, catapulted himself into second place.Yesterday he remained in a tie for second after following his sensational round with a one-under-par 70.He's three shots behind leader Drew Weaver heading into today's final round.Only once has a 59 been recorded on the Nationwide Tour and it had never been achieved on the eGolf Tour until this week.Sims' record round, at the The Club at Irish Creek, came out of the blue after he had returned an even-par 71 in the opening round on Wednesday and was sitting in 91st place.At that point he was four shots outside the projected cut line.But his 12-under 59 sent shock waves around the course.The former University of Rhode Island player birdied his first eight holes, four of which came via putts 10 feet or longer, prior to flying the green at the par-three ninth and getting up and down for the first par of his round.He made the turn at a record-setting eight-under 27 and went him to the closing nine in need of a four-under effort to join golf's elite.A birdie at the par-four 10th took him to nine-under but then gave way to a four-hole stretch of pars that kept him three birdies shy of the 12-under mark.They came courtesy of an up-and-down at the par-five 15th, a 22-foot birdie putt at the par-four 16th, and a tap-in birdie at the narrow par-three 17th, that all combined to move him to 12-under on the day with just one hole to play.“I thought I needed to make a birdie at the last hole to shoot 59,” said the 33-year-old. “Nothing would have been different if I had known I just needed a par for 59, I was trying to make a birdie either way.”A perfect tee shot on the downhill par-four closing hole left Sims with 126 yards to a front-right hole location. A 54-degree wedge hit to 15 feet set up what he thought would be one final birdie try to break 60.“I hit that birdie putt and left it a few inches short and thought, 'You have to be kidding me,” said Sims after his round. “When the guys in the group congratulated me, I remembered that it was a par 71. Pretty surreal feeling.”Sims' round bettered the Tour's previous best of 60, set by former Web.com Tour member Dustin Bray at the 2009 Walnut Creek Open in Goldsboro, North Carolina.“I think 59 is the best I've ever played,” joked Sims. “What's cool is that the 27 on the front nine is my lowest by two. I shot 29 out on this tour a few years ago.”Sims' previous best tournament score was 63.After posting three top-six finishes in his first eight starts this year, he had missed three of his past four cuts entering this week's Southern Open, including each of his last two.“I knew I had a good one in me, I didn't know it was going to be 59,” said Sims, currently 19th on the eGolf Tour money list. “There was a point out there where it felt like it was going to be a low round, and it just kept going.“I was really calm all day. It's a weird thing. It's just a really weird thing.”Sims made 94 career starts on the Web.com Tour, collecting four top-10 finishes and $184,295 in earnings.His best finish was a tie for ninth, recorded three times, at the 2011 Price Cutter Charity Championship, the 2009 Chitimacha Louisiana Open and the 2009 Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open.