By Jake Knapp joined an elite club on Thursday as he shot the PGA Tour’s 15th sub-60 round ever.
The world No. 99 shot a bogey-free 12-under 59 in his opening round at the Cognizant Classic at the PGA National Resort in Florida.
His round – composed of 12 birdies and six pars – meant that he ended Thursday’s first round with a four-shot lead over the chasing pack.
“It’s just one of those days where everything was kind of clicking,” Knapp said afterwards.
Knapp began his round in hot fashion, coming out the gates with five straight birdies before adding another at the ninth to card a six-under 29 opening nine.
His approach play was extremely accurate, leaving him with short putts on many holes, and his putter allowed him to finish strongly, with nine of his first 10 birdies coming on putts from inside 12 feet.
Birdies on holes 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15 meant Knapp was on course for a record-breaking round before he birdied the final 18th hole.
“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 said. “I thought I did a good job of just trying to focus on shot by shot and not letting what happened or what could happen affect anything. Then once I made the long putt on 15, it was like, ‘Okay, now this is kind of here.’”
And it could’ve been even better for the 30-year-old who had a chance to match the PGA Tour single-round record of 58, set by Jim Furyk at the 2016 Travelers Championship.
But on the final par-five 18th, his eagle putt came up short and he had to settle for a 59, joining an exclusive club which includes players such as David Duval, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler and Al Geiberger among others.
Despite his excellent opening round, Knapp says he left the course thinking he could’ve had an even larger lead.
“You think about 59, but it’s like I’ll still think tonight about how it should have been 58 or 57 or 56,” Knapp said. “Fifty-nine is great, but you always could technically do better, but it could always be worse. I wasn’t too worried about breathing room. If I got to 18 and I was already at 12-under par, I was going to play the hole the exact same way.
“Whether I shoot 89 or 59, I’m going to come back out and do my job tomorrow. I feel like over the last couple weeks I’ve started to get into a better head space of just keep trusting the stuff I’ve been working on and that it’s going to keep getting better, and come out tomorrow and just try to keep doing it.”
Daniel Berger, Russell Henley and Sami Välimäki sit four shots behind Knapp in a three-way tie for second.
While Knapp was recording a blistering opening round, one of his competitors was having a brush with Florida’s reptilian wildlife.
Billy Horschel, who finished Thursday’s opening round seven shots behind Knapp after shooting a five-under 66, briefly became an animal herder after an alligator had found his way onto the PGA National Resort course.
On the sixth hole, Horschel saw a police officer trying to usher the gator off the course with little success, so the 38-year-old took matters into his own hands.
The Florida native used his 60-degree wedge, poking at the gator until it made its way back to the water.
Horschel explained afterwards that he’d grown up with his dad “grabbing” alligators’ tails to get them back into the water and described the incident as “not that big of a deal.”
“I’m not afraid of gators,” the former University of Florida Gator golfer said. “Listen, as I tell most people, I said, they’re more afraid of you. The majority of the time they’re only going to come after you during mating season where they’re a little aggressive and then if you’re around their nest when they’ve got some eggs. The majority of the time, they’re fine.”
