Jake Knapp recorded the fifteenth sub-60 spherical in PGA Tour historical past with a 12-under-par 59 within the first spherical of the Cognizant Traditional at PGA Nationwide in Palm Seaside Gardens.
Knapp, 30, had an opportunity to tie the bottom spherical in tour historical past, however his eagle putt from simply inside 19 ft on the 18th gap slid a couple of inches proper of the cup. He then tapped in for birdie to finish his bogey-free spherical.
By day’s finish, Knapp held a four-stroke lead over Daniel Berger, Russell Henley and Finland’s Sami Valimaki. Rickie Fowler was a part of a tie for fifth at seven-under 64, and Jordan Spieth was one other stroke again.
The winner of final 12 months’s Mexico Open as a tour rookie, Knapp took benefit of superb scoring situations on the Champion course. He birdied his first 5 holes and had two different stretches of three consecutive birdies. That included draining a 31-foot putt on the par-3 fifteenth gap to achieve 11 underneath.
“I knew clearly I had it going actually early, however on the similar time, that may occur after which it might probably type of fizzle out fairly fast,” Knapp mentioned when requested at what level he began occupied with breaking 60. “I assumed I did a very good job of simply attempting to deal with shot by shot and never letting what occurred or what might occur have an effect on something.
“Then as soon as I made the lengthy putt on 15, it was like, ‘OK, now that is type of right here.’ However on the similar time, did not let it have an effect on the sport plan or something like that.”
After consecutive pars, Knapp arrived on the 18th gap needing eagle to match Jim Furyk’s PGA Tour document spherical of 58 on the Vacationers Championship in 2016. He striped his tee shot 335 yards into the center of the green after which put his strategy shot to 18 ft, eight inches.
He narrowly missed the eagle try, however simply transformed the birdie to interrupt the course document of 61 beforehand shared by Brian Harman (2012) and Matt Jones (2021).
“I did not actually give it some thought, to be sincere with you,” Knapp mentioned of his mindset on the ultimate gap. “I feel you begin occupied with it an excessive amount of, you are simply going so as to add stress to one thing that is very pointless.
“On the similar time, if it was Sunday and the match was coming all the way down to the road, it is perhaps totally different. However on the similar time, it is Thursday morning and I am doing my finest to simply put myself in place going into the weekend.
“Tried to simply deal with the shot at hand and belief what I used to be doing all day.”
Of the earlier 14 sub-60 rounds in tour historical past, Knapp’s was solely the fifth to be completed within the first spherical of an occasion. Two of the earlier 4 went on to win the match.
Berger’s 63 included scrambling for par on the par-5 tenth gap – his first of the day – after his tee shot received lodged in a palm tree.
“It was an fascinating begin to the day,” Berger mentioned. “I actually did not really feel like I hit that dangerous of a shot, after which subsequent factor , I noticed everyone attempting to search for my ball.
“Positively not the best way you need to begin a spherical. However type of hung in there and made an ideal chip for par, and that type of received the spherical going somewhat bit. Regardless that it was for par, it felt good.”
Fowler, who carded 5 of his eight birdies over his ultimate seven holes, additionally remarked on the course’s lack of problem.
“With the situations, it isn’t going to get any simpler than it was right this moment actually,” Fowler mentioned. “That being mentioned, 59 remains to be 59. You possibly can’t take something away from that.”
Berger and Fowler will flip their focus to chasing Knapp, who mentioned he deliberate to work out and “possibly take somewhat nap” following his historic spherical. The 59 adopted final 12 months’s T4 right here, when he carded a pair of 66s whereas ending 4 pictures behind winner Austin Eckroat.
“I like this golf course. I am snug on it,” Knapp mentioned. “There is no actual goofiness to it or something like that. It is simply type of proper in entrance of you. It’s extremely execution based mostly. You simply should hit the pictures that the outlet requires.”
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