Jake Knapp recorded the 15th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history with a 12-under-par 59 in the first round of the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens.
Knapp, 30, had a chance to tie the lowest round in tour history, but his eagle putt from just inside 19 feet on the 18th hole slid a few inches right of the cup. He then tapped in for birdie to complete his bogey-free round.
By day’s end, Knapp held a four-stroke lead over Daniel Berger, Russell Henley and Finland’s Sami Valimaki. Rickie Fowler was part of a tie for fifth at seven-under 64, and Jordan Spieth was another stroke back.
The winner of last year’s Mexico Open as a tour rookie, Knapp took advantage of ideal scoring conditions on the Champion course. He birdied his first five holes and had two other stretches of three consecutive birdies. That included draining a 31-foot putt on the par-3 15th hole to reach 11 under.
“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 when asked at what point he started thinking about breaking 60. “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, ‘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 at the 18th hole needing eagle to match Jim Furyk’s PGA Tour record round of 58 at the Travelers Championship in 2016. He striped his tee shot 335 yards into the middle of the fairway and then put his approach shot to 18 feet, eight inches.
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Watch world No 99 Knapp shoot a bogey-free 59 in the first round of the Cognizant Classic
He narrowly missed the eagle attempt, but easily converted the birdie to break the course record of 61 previously shared by Brian Harman (2012) and Matt Jones (2021).
“I didn’t really think about it, to be honest with you,” Knapp said of his mindset on the final hole. “I think you start thinking about it too much, you’re just going to add pressure to something that’s very unnecessary.
“At the same time, if it was Sunday and the tournament was coming down to the line, it might be different. But at the same time, it’s Thursday morning and I’m doing my best to just put myself in position going into the weekend.
“Tried to just focus on the shot at hand and trust what I was doing all day.”
Of the previous 14 sub-60 rounds in tour history, Knapp’s was only the fifth to be accomplished in the first round of an event. Two of the previous four went on to win the tournament.
Berger’s 63 included scrambling for par on the par-5 10th hole – his first of the day – after his tee shot got lodged in a palm tree.
“It was an interesting start to the day,” Berger said. “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.
“Definitely not the way you want to start a round. But kind of hung in there and made a great chip for par, and that kind of got the round going a little bit. Even though it was for par, it felt good.”
Fowler, who carded five of his eight birdies over his final seven holes, also remarked on the course’s lack of difficulty.
“With the conditions, it’s not going to get any easier than it was today really,” Fowler said. “That being said, 59 is still 59. You can’t take anything away from that.”
Berger and Fowler will turn their focus to chasing Knapp, who said he planned to work out and “maybe take a little nap” following his historic round. The 59 followed last year’s T4 here, when he carded a pair of 66s while finishing four shots behind winner Austin Eckroat.
“I like this golf course. I’m comfortable on it,” Knapp said. “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.”
Watch the Cognizant Classic throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports Golf. Live coverage continues Friday from 4pm. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.
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