David Skinns of England missed a 9-foot putt for 59 but was thrilled to shoot a career-best and tournament-record 60 to take the lead after one round of the Sanderson Farms Championship on Thursday in Jackson, Miss.
"Just a bit of a dream, really," Skinns said of his round. "Those are the ones that you turn around and you're 7 under, you're like, ‘Wow, I didn't feel like I did too much.'"
At 12 under, Skinns leads by three strokes over Michael Thorbjornsen. Tied for third are Gary Woodland and Ben Griffin at 8-under 64.
Skinns teed off on the back nine at the Country Club of Jackson and rolled in six birdies on each nine. After watching a 54-foot birdie putt fall at the par-3 seventh hole, he hit his second shot at the par-4 eighth to about 2 feet to set up his 12th birdie.
But at his finishing hole, No 9, Skinns' chance at golf history turned left too quickly and he had to settle for par.
"It's hard not to be a little bit disappointed because how many 9-footers are you going to get to shoot 59? I'm sure I'm not going to get many," Skinns said.
"... That's kind of this golf course. Sometimes the grain is a little different to what you think. Just so happened that that was for a 59. But there were a lot out there that I got right, so I'm going to focus on the ones that I got right."
Only 14 rounds of 59 have been recorded on the PGA Tour, including two earlier this year – by Cameron Young at the Travelers Championship and Hayden Springer at the John Deere Classic.
Skinns, 42, is a veteran of golf tours around the world who is gunning for his first PGA Tour title. He entered the week ranked No 108 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings and could catapult to No 63 with a win. The top 125 at the end of the fall are guaranteed a tour card for next year.
Thorbjornsen, 23, put up nine birdies without a bogey for the second-best round of the day.
Though he started the week at No 134 in the standings, Thorbjornsen has already secured his tour card through 2025 via the PGA Tour University pathway. The former Stanford star turned pro earlier this year.
"I think this summer – obviously I didn't play good golf at all. My game wasn't in a great spot," Thorbjornsen said. "Then kind of putting myself in these tournaments where you have the best players in the world, you're really going to get exposed.
"But yeah, just had to put in some good work these off weeks and understand that to play good golf, you don't really need something special, just hit fairways, hit greens, and have a couple putts drop here and there, and you'll produce some good results."
Nine players are tied for fifth at 7-under 65, including Patton Kizzire, who last month won the FedEx Cup Fall opener in California for his first victory in six years, and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes, competing one week after playing on the International team at the Presidents Cup won by the United States in Montreal.
Rickie Fowler opened with a 3-under 69, and defending champion Luke List shot a 2-under 70.
Then there was Reed Hughes, who shot a 4-over 76 but was one of the fan favourites. The 71-year-old Mississippi native won last year's Gulf States PGA Sectional Championship and was awarded a place in this week's event as a result.
Hughes went 1 under on the front nine Thursday before a triple bogey and a double bogey at Nos. 11 and 13, respectively, did him in.
"Like I said, it's just unbelievable," Hughes said. "I can't believe I'm doing it. It's hard for me because I'm used to riding in a cart and playing in about three hours."