PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Jake Knapp knew he was on the verge of one thing particular early on Thursday, with a run of 5 straight birdies to open his spherical on the Cognizant Basic.
In the long run, he joined one among golf’s most elite golf equipment.
Knapp — the 99th-ranked participant on this planet — joined the PGA Tour’s sub-60 membership on Thursday, taking pictures a bogey-free 59 within the opening spherical at PGA Nationwide. It was the fifteenth time that somebody has damaged 60 in a PGA Tour occasion.
“It’s just one of those days where everything was kind of clicking,” Knapp stated.
Knapp completed one shot off the tour scoring file of 58, finished by Jim Furyk within the remaining spherical of the 2016 Vacationers Championship. Knapp turned the 14th participant to shoot a sub-60 spherical; Furyk is the one one to do it twice. The feat has develop into extra frequent, with 9 such rounds since 2016.
Knapp had a putt for eagle on the par-5 18th that will have tied Furyk’s mark of 58 — 18 ft, 8 inches was the measurement given by the PGA Tour. The putt didn’t have the pace and he tapped in for birdie.
And sure, he was enthusiastic about 58 — particularly after an extended birdie putt on the fifteenth put him at 11 beneath for the spherical.
“I stepped up on the 16 tee and just kind of told my caddie, ‘Let’s play 2 under in the last three,’ ” Knapp stated. “ ‘Let’s do what we’re supposed to do.’ ”
He needed to accept 59, if a 59 can ever really be settled for.
“I thought I played well,” stated Daniel Berger, who had a bogey-free spherical of 8-under 63, highlighted by a par on the par-5 tenth — after his tee shot was misplaced in a tree and he performed a provisional. “But then someone shot 59.”
Knapp’s 12-birdie spherical on the par-71 course additionally broke the earlier Cognizant scoring file of 61, first finished in 2012 by Brian Harman and matched in 2021 by Matt Jones. There are three rounds of 62 in match historical past — Tiger Woods within the remaining spherical in 2012 on his technique to a tie for second, Brandon Hagy within the second spherical in 2021 and eventual winner Chris Kirk within the second spherical of the 2023 occasion.
There was barely any wind, which is uncommon for South Florida, and PGA Nationwide was largely defenseless within the morning session. The closest there was to any hassle was across the seventh gap, the place Billy Horschel — a Florida Gator from his faculty days — used a membership to poke at an precise alligator that was catching some solar close to the inexperienced and acquired it to retreat again to its watery dwelling.
Even wildlife didn’t deter scoring in Spherical 1. Berger, Russell Henley and Sami Valimaki all shot 63, Rickie Fowler was amongst these at 64, Jordan Spieth — persevering with his comeback after wrist surgical procedure — shot 65, and Horschel, Zach Johnson and Camilo Villegas have been amongst those that opened with a 66.
For the day, the common rating was 68.62, the bottom ever for a match spherical at PGA Nationwide.
And no person had a better time than Knapp, who completed no higher than a tie for seventeenth in any of his first seven begins of 2025 — after which performed his manner into golf historical past at PGA Nationwide, a course that gamers have stated has been much less punitive lately. He wanted to make solely 98 ft of putts, a tribute to a day of wonderful ball-striking.
“You still have to hit shots. You have to make putts,” Fowler stated. “Yeah, 59 anywhere is hard to do. I don’t care if you go play from 6,500 yards. You still have to make putts. You still have to hit it close enough to have those opportunities. With this place, we’ve seen some low scores, guys get after it when the conditions are right. But obviously no one has shot 59 before out here.”
Knapp has one PGA Tour win, that coming finally yr’s Mexico Open. He’s performed the Cognizant solely as soon as befor, tying for fourth final yr after taking pictures three rounds of 68 or higher and ending at 13 beneath.
And this yr, up to now, he’s even higher.
“You’ve got to tip your hat to him,” Horschel stated. “He shot a 12-under-par 59 at PGA National, which no one ever thought.”
Horschel and Knapp crossed paths after the spherical, and Horschel — providing congratulations — instructed him he would have wagered “a lot of money … like, a lot of money” on no person ever taking pictures 59 at PGA Nationwide.
“I feel like I shot 4 over after seeing what you shot,” Horschel instructed Knapp as he walked away.
Knapp began Thursday with 5 straight birdies, that stretch highlighted by a 60-foot chip-in on the par-4 second gap. The birdies stored coming in bunches; three in a row on holes 9 by 11, three extra approaching holes 13 by 15 — the final of these an enormous breaking putt from 31 ft, going throughout the inexperienced earlier than dropping lifeless middle into the cup.
Mike Stephens, Knapp’s caddie, stated they weren’t afraid to speak concerning the possibilities that awaited on the ultimate three holes.
“I think if anything, maybe your playing competitors try to give you a little distance or whatnot, but he likes to talk,” Stephens stated. “So, we’d kind of go over things on the last couple (holes), to try to fill the time. Just to keep it the same. … Just another day.”
Nicely, not fairly. A 59 is not only one other day.
“Whether I shot 89 or 59, I’m going to come back out and do my job tomorrow,” Knapp stated.