Jake Knapp became the latest player to shoot a sub-60 round on the PGA Tour and not win the tournament. Knapp shot 59 in the opening round of the Cognizant Classic and led until the back nine on Sunday when he was derailed by a triple-bogey at the 11th – his first bogey in 21 holes.
Knapp was the 14th player to dip under 60, but only five players have turned the achievement into a winning week. Jim Furyk, the only player to have broken 60 twice, shot 58 in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship and David Duval carded a 59 in the final round of the Bob Hope Invitational 17 years earlier.
Justin Thomas and Brandt Snedeker both shot opening-round 59s, just as Knapp did, but they managed to keep the boot down. Thomas won the 2017 Sony Open by seven shots and Snedeker had three shots to spare at the Wyndham Championship a year later.
The very first 59 on the PGA Tour was shot by Al Geiberger at the Memphis Classic in 1977, and he went on to win too.
On Sunday Knapp came to grief at the par-four 11th when his approach shot came up short and bounced into the penalty area. Knapp elected not to take a penalty drop and tried to hit the ball out of the water. He shifted it on to dry land at the second attempt.
“It’s probably one of the tougher shots of the day,” Knapp said afterwards about his second shot. “Front right pin, downwind. Chipping from long isn’t super easy. Could see kind of the top quarter of the ball, figured I could just kind of blast it out for the most part.
“I could see a little bit more of the ball [for the second attempt], but underneath there, it’s just like soft sand and rocks and things like that. It feels like the club gets through fine, but the ball just doesn’t come through with anything on it.”
Knapp racked up a seven and played the remaining holes in level par to finish in a tie for sixth, four shots behind the winner Joe Highsmith.
Peake puts trough behind him as he books spot at Royal Portrush
Golf is full of redemption stories but stop us if you’ve heard one like this before. At the weekend Ryan Peake won the New Zealand Open, with a back story that included membership of a biker gang and five years in prison for assault.
Having only secured a visa to travel to New Zealand at the beginning of the week the 31-year-old Australian carded a final-round 66 to finish on 23 under par and win by a shot. Among the prizes for his victory is a place at the Open in Royal Portrush in July.
“I’ve just changed me life,” said Peake. “This is what I do. I want to be here and just play golf. The story is what it is, but I’m just out here playing golf.
McIlroy hoping to put signature on another Arnold Palmer win
After a fortnight off Rory McIlroy returns to action at the $20 million Arnold Palmer Invitational this week, one of the signature events on the PGA Tour; Shane Lowry will be the other Irish player in the field.
Lowry tied for 11th at the Cognizant Classic, shooting a closing round of 67 in tricky conditions on Sunday. After a strong start to the season, Lowry is inside the top 20 in both the world rankings and the FedEx Cup standings.
McIlroy won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2018 – ending a 26-tournament drought without a victory – and he has a good record at Bay Hill, where he has six top-10 finishes. Séamus Power needed a high finish at the Cognizant last week to get into the field at Bay Hill but failed to make the cut at PGA National.
The LPGA Tour heads to China this week where Leona Maguire will tee it up in the Blue Bay tournament in Hainan.
Word of Mouth
“Did you say the Masters? Yeah, I don’t want to break any protocol. I’m not sure if I’ve officially received [an invitation]. But that’s the one. I’ve only been there a couple times as a spectator and I was able to play, fortunately, with a couple members last year.” – Joe Highsmith on being informed of his imminent schedule changes after winning the Cognizant Classic, his first PGA Tour win. Highsmith shot seven under on Sunday having made the weekend on the cut line.
Number: 67 million to 1
The odds of having two holes in one in the same round, a feat achieved by Dale Whitnell at the Kenya Open on Friday.
Social Swing
@PengeMarco: 3 Month Ban, 3 Rounds, 3 Cuts on the bounce, Solo 3rd, 3 stripe life ///, 3 years with Mizuno, 3 years married, 3 years on the bounce Arsenal bottle it. @MizunoGolfEU – A lot going on with Marco Penge here after he finished third in South Africa, qualifying for the Open. The three-month ban was for a gambling offence, by the by.
@fredcouplesgolf: What a win for @joehighsmith33! He brought the Bear Trap to its knees @The_Cognizant on a Sunday I will remember forever. I am so proud of this kid and he is on his way now. Also proud of Joseph Lacava. What a great team those two make. See you @TheMasters – Freddie Couples congratulates the latest PGA Tour winner Joe Highsmith. And also his caddie, whose father Joe won the Masters on Freddie’s bag in 1992 and on Tiger Woods’s bag in 2019.
On This Day: March 4th, 2012
Rory McIlroy became the second youngest player – after Tiger Woods – to reach number one in the world rankings after winning the Honda Classic in Florida. McIlroy, who was 22 at the time, held off a charge from Woods, who shot a stunning 62 in the final round, including an eagle at the last.
Woods was the leader in the clubhouse when McIlroy birdied the 13th to go two clear and he managed to hold on to that lead through the Bear Trap, the notoriously difficult stretch of holes between the 15th and 17th at PGA National. Earlier in the day Pádraig Harrington had dropped five shots at those holes, but McIlroy got up and down out of the sand twice to save par.
“I knew going out there the conditions would be tough,” said McIlroy in his post round press conference, “and I was just trying to make as many pars as possible, and you know, when a few opportunities presented themselves, I tried to take them.
“Obviously I saw a couple of guys making a charge, and I heard the roar on 18 when Tiger made eagle, and I was just about to line up my putt for birdie on 13. I was able to hole that putt, which was very important, and you know, I knew if I could just play the last five holes at even par, it was going to be good enough.”
In the bag: Joe Highsmith (Cognizant Classic)
Driver: Titleist GT3 (8 degrees)
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Irons: Titleist T200 (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-12F, 54-14F, 58-04T)
Putter: Scotty Cameron 009M Tour Prototype
Know the Rules
Q: Does a player need to use the word ‘provisional’ when playing a provisional ball?
A: No. Players do not need to use the word “provisional”. They only need to make clear that they are playing another ball in case their original ball is lost or out of bounds. Rule 18.3b.
