America’s Scottie Scheffler became the 11th golfer to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour, when he racked up 12 birdies and no bogeys in the second round of the Northern Trust Open at TPC Boston.
Despite his 12-under par round, Scheffler occupies joint second place on the leaderboard with Cameron Davis after Dustin Johnson shot a second round 60, to go with his four-under-par first round, to lead by two shots on 15 under.
Scheffler is the second-youngest player in history after Justin Thomas to join the sub-60 group golfers, and he’s the first rookie to do so. It’s the second 59 of the year – Kevin Chappell shot 59 at the Greenbrier last autumn—and Scheffler’s is the ninth sub-60 round since 2010. Jim Furyk is a dual member of the club having shot a 59 and the only player to shoot a 58.
Scheffler started Friday’s round with a par before a tricky up-and-down birdie at the reachable par-5 2nd. All three par 5s on the course are reachable with an absence of wind. He parred the third before realing off four straight birdies from 4-7, and added a sixth at the 9th to turn in six-under 30.
The momentum continued on the back nine, as he birdied 10 and 11 with a five-footer and a 13-footer to get to eight under for the round through 11. Back-to-back pars at 12 and 13 meant he needed to play his last five holes in four under to shoot golf’s magic number.
He did exactly that, holing a 14-footer for birdie at 14, a seven-footer at 15 and a 10-footer at 16. He holed a seven-footer for par at 17, then him headed to the par-five 18th needing just one more birdie. He hit his drive into the first cut just left of the fairway, then pulled a 5-iron from 215 yards that finished just short of the putting surface, 84 feet short of the hole. He opted to go with the putter and hit to four feet, which he duly holed for the 59.
“Today was obviously a good day on the course,” Scheffler said. “I got off to a really good start. Made a bunch of birdies on the front nine. Had some key up-and-downs at the beginning of the round that kind of got me rolling, freed me up a little bit. Then the momentum just kind of kept going. A lot of times when you’re playing well you can lose that momentum towards the end of the round or have a hiccup here or there. The momentum stayed the whole time, and I made a lot of putts.”
Johnson’s round had the potential to be so much better, as he was 11 under par after 11 holes at TPC Boston after covering the first nine holes in just 27 shots. His front nine included eagles at the second and fourth holes, and birdies at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8. After making birdies at 10 and 11, a record-breaking round of 56 or 57 looked certain, but it was not to be, with Johnson making seven straight pars to end his round, with a 20-foot birdie putt at the last firing left to miss out on a 59.
“Anytime you shoot a number like that, you’re never going to be disappointed,” Johnson said. “I’m definitely not. I feel like the game is in good form. I need to come out on Saturday and do the same thing.”