PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — For Jake Knapp, shooting 59 in Round 1 of Cognizant Classic soars right to the top with any moment of his golf life.
“It’s hard not to put (the 59) kind of as No. 1 right now that I can think of,” Knapp said Friday; he leads by one heading to Sunday. “Obviously, winning in Mexico (last year as a rookie) is for sure No. 1, but then shooting 59 out here—I don’t think I realized how few times or how few people have actually done it.”
Fifty-nine has always been golf’s magic number, but as that feat has become more prevalent in recent years, is it losing its luster?
“Maybe the term shooting a 59 doesn’t mean quite as much because it used to be way less common, but it’s still an incredible score,” Ben Griffin said after his second round at PGA National.
For now, though, a sub-60 scorecard still has the world’s best players in awe.
“You can play from the (red tees) today and probably not shoot 59,” Matthieu Pavon said. “It’s incredible. Even if the course is absolutely perfect and we don’t have any wind, it’s a hell of an achievement. The number of players inside that group is very restricted, so it shows how hard it is to shoot that low.”
There are 15 sub-60 rounds in PGA Tour history: 14 59s and one 58, shot by Jim Furyk at the 2016 Travelers Championship (Furyk also owns a 59, from the 2013 BMW Championship).
The first was Al Geiberger at the 1977 Memphis Classic, which wasn’t matched until Chip Beck at the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational. Next was David Duval at the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Then, Paul Goydos did it at the 2010 John Deere Classic. In the 2010s, there were seven sub-60 rounds, and now almost halfway through the 2020s there are four, with Cameron Young and Hayden Springer adding their names to the list last season.
There has been an abundance of sub-60s in the pro game outside of the PGA Tour, too. The Korn Ferry Tour has seen a rise in recent years, with Frankie Capan III shooting 58 and Cristobal Del Solar carding a 57—the lowest-ever score in a Tour-sanctioned event—last year. LIV Golf, in its four-year history, has two: Joaquin Niemann’s 59 last season and Bryson DeChambeau’s 58 in 2023. The LPGA and DP World Tour each have one 59: Annika Sorenstam in 2001 and Oliver Fisher in 2018.
Officially on Knapp time ⏰
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 28, 2025
Jake Knapp leads by four after an opening round 59 @The_Cognizant. pic.twitter.com/DePufsjqZB
Notice a trend? A large chunk of these historic rounds came in the second half of the 21st century.
Why?
“The problem is guys are so good nowadays,” Griffin said. “We have technology. We have all these things that help us play better than that we didn’t have 20 years ago, and because of that we’re seeing more and more of it, but I think it’s still an incredible feat.”
These rounds—at least not yet—haven’t been notched on the world’s most prestigious and difficult golf courses, such as Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, TPC Sawgrass and Augusta National, to name a few. But shooting 59 or lower at any PGA Tour venue is nothing to scoff at.
“It’s hard to shoot low,” Shane Lowry said. “I don’t care if it’s on a municipal course, 6,500 yards. To shoot 59 is impressive. I also don’t think people realize how hard the courses are we play on Tour. There are people sitting at home, and Jake’s round yesterday was unbelievably impressive. Daniel Berger’s (8-under 63 first round) was very impressive, and (Knapp) beat him by four. I think we need to give credit to the players for doing it.”
In 2022, Griffin holed out from 155 yards on his final hole to shoot 59 during a casual round on Sea Island Golf Club’s Plantation Course (where the Tour's RSM Classic is played). However, he knows that doing it on Tour is a different animal.
He had a chance in the final round of last year’s John Deere Classic, needing to birdie the final two holes. But those dreams were dashed with a bogey on No. 17.
“On Tour (shooting 59) is definitely more difficult,” Griffin said. “Although, when you’re playing at home, the course conditions generally aren’t as perfect as we see on Tour, so it’s still impressive at home, but certainly a little bit easier.”
Some might say Knapp’s accomplishment is atop the list of 59s, considering where he did it. PGA National’s Champions Course was once one of the hardest on Tour, but it has played benign the last two seasons (especially this year), generating criticism.
“I think the overseed has—the rough is not long enough,” Billy Horschel said Thursday. “It’s not penal enough when you miss the fairway.”
It might not be your father’s PGA National anymore, but the skeleton of the old Champions Course course is still there—and Knapp's competitors aren’t hesitating to give him his flowers.
“Out here, that’s pretty crazy,” rookie Karl Vilips said. “You’ve got to hit it amazing off the tee. You’ve got to flush it into the greens. You’ve got to make putts all day for 18 holes. I don't think (59 is) ever going to become any less notable. At a place like this especially, that's probably one of the best 59s I’ve ever seen.”
However, most believe Knapp won’t remain the most recent 59 for long.
“I’m sure there will be plenty more to come just because everyone is getting so good,” Vilips said.
Even Knapp echoes that sentiment, but every time there’s a 59 watch he won’t be holding his breath the way members of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins do when a team seems poised for a perfect season (over 50 years later, it hasn’t been repeated).
“No,” Knapp said when asked if he’ll root against someone on the brink of shooting 59. “I think even if you look at the records and how many more 59s there are recently versus I think the first one we were looking—first one got shot in '77, then it was '91, then it was 2010 basically. They got pretty spread out after a while.
“I think now all of a sudden there was a couple last year and one obviously this year. I think it might start to happen a little bit more often.”
In Major League Baseball, there were six perfect games between 2009 and 2012, but an 11-year drought followed before Domingo Germán ended it in 2023. So who knows how long it’ll be before 15 sub-60s rounds turn to 16.
However, as golf evolves, a new golden number may emerge in the near future.
“You can always go low,” Griffin says. “I mean it’s possible to shoot a 54 potentially. But yeah, I think we’ll continue to see more and more chances and yeah, the next number might be 58 and then maybe 57.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as As Sub-60 PGA Tour Rounds Become More Frequent, They’re Still Illustrious—for Now.
