i loe the SE forum's no-hitter watch thread...

thought it would be good for the golf forum to have 59 watch.... so many low scores these days...

last few weeks we've had gainey, fowler (28 on front), van pelt and watney have decent go's at it

OK I'll play seems like a worthy topic.

Jay Haas shot 60 today at the Tradition. 28 on the back. Had a bunker shot on the par 5 18th to shoot 59. Left it 8 ft short Would have been the first 59 on the Senior Tour. There have been 8 60's.

snedeker is 11 under through 16 in china, needs two birdies coming in

birdie on 17, needs birdie on 18 to do it

hes got a 20 footer for birdie on 18

stunning

This thread will slow down once play leaves Asia. Easy courses over there imo.

there was a golf magazine or digest article about guys shooting 62 or better and that a 58 might be around the corner

i think analysis showed that 5 or 6 tourneys accounted for most of it. deere, hope palm springs. maybe greenbrier or memphis. maybe someome can fill in blanks

i wonder what best round on a tough course is. i realize subjective.

Geiberger's 59 without question. 35 years ago and I want to say the next best score of the week was 66.

BO

Lift-clean-place though for Mr. 59.

Never been a 59 on European Tour of course, but Darren Clarke's round of 60 at the K Club was something special.

IIRC (and I was there at the time), he was 12 under after 16 and missed decent birdie chances on 17 and 18.

K Club is certainly no mickey-mouse course.

great rounds on tough courses i think would include miller 63 USO and norman 63 british open (doing the norman from memory).....

A few outstanding US Open rounds...

Arnold Palmer, 1960 Cherry Hills 65 best by 4. Arguably best US Open ever. Hogan could have won, Nicklaus should have won, but it took sports writer Bob Drum with his famous "65 won't do you any good" quip to motivate Palmer to his first (and only) US Open win. Hogan had made the first 34 greens in regulation on Saturday, but spun a short wedge on #17 back into the water, and blew up with a triple on 18. Nicklaus had the lead with 9 holes remaining, but made 3 bogeys and lost by 2.

Ken Venturi, 1964 Congressional 3rd round 66 best by 3. Only 1 other 3rd round in the 60s. Won. Last US Open with final day 36 holes. Anybody think of Venturi when Beljam was struggling last week?

Billy Casper 1966 Olympic 4th round 68 best by 1, but it was his 3rd round in the 60s when the rest of the field only had 12 for the week. Won in playoff. He and Palmer finished 7 shots ahead of the next competitor, Nicklaus.

Jack Nicklaus 1967 Baltusrol 4th round 65 best by 3. 72 hole aggregate score 275 set the US Open record.

Tony Jacklin 1970 Hazeltine, 1st round 71 best by 3. Ended up winning by 7.

Jim Simons (a) 1971 Merion, 3rd round 65 best by 3. Last amateur to lead US Open going into 4th round.

David Graham 1981 Merion, 4th round 67, made all 18 greens in regulation, and with the exception of #1 (missed fairway by about a foot) did not miss a fairway. Likely the most methodically perfect US Open final round ever.

Larry Nelson 1983 Oakmont, 3rd round 65 best by 4. Ended up shooting 36 hole record 132 and won.

Keith Clearwater 1987 Olympic, 3rd round 64 best by 3. (he shot 79 4th round)

Curtis Strange 1989 Oak Hill, 2nd round 64 best by 4. Won.

Tom Lehman 1996 Oakland Hills, 3rd round 65 best by 3. 2nd.

Mark Brooks 2001 Southern Hills, 2nd round 64 best by 4, with round interrupted by thunderstorms.

Tim Clark 2004 Shinnecock 2nd round 66 best by 3. Only 2 other rounds in the 60s.

Rory McIlroy 2011 Congressional 1st round 65 best by 3. 72 hole aggregate score 268 established new record by 4 shots.

Michael Thompson 2012 Olympic 1st round 66 best by 3.

FYI, Johnny Miller's final round 63 at 1973 US Open was 2 shots better than Lanny Wadkins' final round 65.

http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2...r-of-58-riccio

good article.

2000

USA

Tiger Woods ‡

Glen Abbey Golf Course

Oakville, Ontario

266

−22

i was there. saw tiger go i think 6-under in 4 holes. 15 thru 18 (started on 10th... and assumes 16 and 18 were both playing as par 5's which i'm not sure).

he only beat waite by one stroke though?? amazing shot on 18 though.

I know I'm reviving an old thread but I think my posting here might be most relevant.

So here we go and this is more of a theoretical or perception question.

Is shooting a 59 on a par 70 course the same as shooting a 59 on a par 72 course, or is it a fairer comparison to say that shooting a 59 on par 70 course is more like a 61 on a par 72 course?

So that said then if someone shoots a 59 or a par 72 course would its equal be a 57 or a par 70 course?

It's not linear like this. A 59 is ridiculous no matter if it's par 72, 71, or 70. And as another poster said, the par 70 may mean 2 par 5s instead of 4, which are the easiest scoring holes. Obviously a 59 is still "better" if it came on a par 72, but as I said it's not as linear a difference as it looks.

Ultimately you want to look at the course rating and slope to differentiate between them all. But I'm not sure Tour set-ups have a published rating/slope.

I think as long as par is 70 or higher, then a 59 is a 59. Goofy courses with like par 66 obviously don't count.

Par 57 on a par 70 is better than a 59 on a par 72. Part is it is obviously the par 72 will have 2 more par 5's which makes scoring easier relative to par. But also when you are talking about obscenely low numbers is just the actual score most people think about, not how many under par they were.

For me 59 is extraordinary for two reasons.

1. It represents an extreme outlier for score under par for a single round (
-13, ).
2. Because it is "under sixty," it has the extraordinary aura about it, as any golf score that is 5X is awesome.

For me both these things need to happen. 59 on a par 70 course is 60 or 61 on courses that PGA players play on 95% of the time .

One thing I don't get is that people think it is ok to have a 59 on a par 70 course, but not something odd like a par 69 or 68 course.

So people are ok with some arbitrary numbers (70) , but not others (69)??

Probably because the PGA doesn't play on any courses where par is less than 70?

how many courses are played at 70?

Going by my Yahoo! fantasy season, so far this year 10 out of 30 events have been played on par 70 courses. So far the venues have been fairly evenly divided between par 70, 71, and 72 courses, with a 73 (Kapalua) thrown in for good measure.

The par 70 courses that the PGA Tour plays typically feature converted par 5s and/or 500+ yard par 4s, so it doesn't do much to tarnish the mystique of a 59 in my eyes.

If the tour played on courses where par was less than 70, then I think we could have a conversation about shooting 59 on them. Until that happens it seems irrelevant.

Fair enough, Brocktoon. I think the problem I have is that I am comparing a "59" to my first 79. I remember when I first broke 80. It was a 79 on par 70 course. I got congrats from my buddies but it wasn't until (2 months later!!) I shot a 78 on a par 72 course that I felt like I truly "broke 80".

Millions of guys have broken 80, so who cares. 59 is so rare I guess I shouldn't really care what the par is between 70 and 72.

I think the hype of a 59 on a 70 or 71 is dumb. While those are insanely good, -13 on a 72 is the ultimate and nothing else compares. That is the benchmark.

Not all 70s or 71s are just less par 5s. Sometimes there are less par 3s. Regardless, -13 will always be harder to achieve unless the 70s and 71s are playing 520 yard par 4s that have been converted.