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 Seashore Gardens.
Knapp, 30, had an opportunity to tie the bottom spherical in tour historical past, however his eagle putt from simply inside 19 toes 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 ideally suited scoring circumstances 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 obviously I had it going really early, but at the same time, that can happen and then it can kind of fizzle out pretty quick,” Knapp mentioned when requested at what level he began fascinated about breaking 60. “I assumed I did a great job of simply making an attempt to give attention to shot by shot and never letting what occurred or what may occur have an effect on something.
“Then once I made the long putt on 15, it was like, ‘OK, now this is kind of here.’ But at the same time, didn’t let it affect the game plan or anything 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 toes, 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 didn’t really think about it, to be honest with you,” Knapp mentioned of his mindset on the ultimate gap. “I think you start thinking about it too much, you’re just going to add pressure to something that’s very unnecessary.
“On the identical time, if it was Sunday and the match was coming right down to the road, it is likely to be totally different. However on the identical time, it is Thursday morning and I am doing my finest to only put myself in place going into the weekend.
“Tried to just focus on the shot at hand and trust what I was 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 obtained lodged in a palm tree.
“It was an interesting start to the day,” Berger mentioned. “I really didn’t feel like I hit that bad of a shot, and then next thing you know, I saw everybody trying to look for my ball.
“Undoubtedly not the way in which you need to begin a spherical. However sort of hung in there and made an incredible chip for par, and that sort of obtained the spherical going just a little bit. Although it was for par, it felt good.”
Fowler, who carded 5 of his eight birdies over his last seven holes, additionally remarked on the course’s lack of issue.
“With the conditions, it’s not going to get any easier than it was today really,” Fowler mentioned. “That being said, 59 is still 59. You can’t take anything away from that.”
Berger and Fowler will flip their focus to chasing Knapp, who mentioned he deliberate to work out and “maybe take a little 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 photographs behind winner Austin Eckroat.
“I like this golf course. I’m comfortable on it,” Knapp mentioned. “There’s no real goofiness to it or anything like that. It’s just kind of right in front of you. It’s very execution based. You just have to hit the shots that the hole calls for.”
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