Jake Knapp had one helluva run early on the PGA Tour season a year ago, finding his breakthrough win and then competing near the top of the leaderboard routinely. After falling off a tad, though, he's back in the mix to finding form. And on Thursday at the 2025 Cognizant Classic, he was also eyeing a bit of history, namely looking to shoot a sub-60 round of either 59 or even 58 which was in the cards.
Knapp, looking at a PGA National course that wasn't offering much resistance with no wind and a getable golf course, took full advantage of the situation. He drove the ball long, as he always does, but extremely straight while also putting on a pristine display of both approach play and putting. That led him to the 18th hole at 11-under on the Par 71 track. All he needed was a birdie on the scorable Par 5 to get a 59 and an eagle would've put him in the same breath as Jim Furyk with a 58.
After a great first two shots, the birdie putt was easy and he knocked it home to shoot 59, only the 14th player in PGA Tour history to do so in a tournament round and the 15th player to break 60. That, however, had golf fans wondering when the last 59 on the PGA Tour was.
When was the last 59 on the PGA Tour?
Before Knapp, Hayden Springer was the last player to shoot PGA Tour round, doing so at the 2024 John Deere Classic in the first round last July. Springer went on to finish tied for seventh in that event as he was not able to capitalize on his strong start.
Interestingly enough, though, Springer wasn't the only player in the 2024 season to shoot a 59 as Cameron Young also accomplished that feat in the third round of the 2024 Travelers Championship, just two weeks prior to Springer's. He also did not go on to win that tournament, though, finishing T9.
Every player to break 60 in a PGA Tour round
Let's now take a look at every round under 60 in PGA Tour history, when it happened, and how the players finished in each of the tournaments when they shot 59. We'll go in reverse chronological order.
Player | Tournament (Round) | Round Score | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
Jake Knapp | 2025 Cognizant Classic (Round 1) | 59 | TBD |
Hayden Springer | 2024 John Deere Classic (Round 1) | 59 | T7 |
Cameron Young | 2024 Travelers Championship (Round 3) | 59 | T9 |
Scottie Scheffler | 2020 The Northern Trust (Round 2) | 59 | T4 |
Kevin Chappell | 2019 Military Tribute at The Greenbrier (Round 2) | 59 | T47 |
Brandt Snedeker | 2018 Wyndham Championship (Round 1) | 59 | Winner |
Adam Hadwin | 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge (Round 3) | 59 | Runner-Up |
Justin Thomas | 2017 Sony Open (Round 1) | 59 | Winner |
Jim Furyk | 2016 Travelers Championship | 58 | T5 |
Jim Furyk | 2013 BMW Championship (Round 2) | 59 | 3rd |
Stuart Appleby | 2010 Greenbrier Classic (Round 4) | 59 | Winner |
Paul Goydos | 2010 John Deere Classic (Round 1) | 59 | Runner-Up |
David Duval | 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (Round 4) | 59 | Winner |
Chip Beck | 1991 Las Vegas Invitational (Round 3) | 59 | T3 |
Al Geiberger | 1977 Memphis Classic (Round 2) | 59 | Winner |
The first thing that stands out about this is how many of the players to shoot 59 or better in a competitive round, including Jim Furyk as the only man to shoot 58 when he did so at the 2016 Travelers Championship, didn't go on to win the tournament. Only five winners have emerged after shooting sub-60 on the PGA Tour, which is kind of crazy to consider.
Let's also not overlook how crazy it is that Furyk also had, at one point, the most recent round of shooting 59 and then bested that three years later by shooting 58. What a legendary move on his part there.
As we've seen technology improve, though, it's wild that we've now seen 11 sub-60 rounds on the PGA Tour since 2010 when there were only three prior to that. Even with how players are taking advantage of course now, that's patentedly absurd.