Golfers say 59 still score to shoot for
Bubba Watson was 7 under through nine holes in the second round of the Hero World Challenge, such a strong start that it might have led someone to declare a “59 watch.”
It rarely happens, of course, though it does lead to one question. Isn’t the target now 58? Golf established its magic number in 1977 when Al Geiberger shot 59 in the Memphis Classic. It was matched 14 years later by Chip Beck in Las Vegas, and then David Duval at the Bob Hope Classic (1999), Paul Goydos at the John Deere Classic and Stuart Appleby at The Greenbrier Classic (both in 2010), and Jim Furyk at the BMW Championship in 2013.
Then Furyk shot 58 at the Travelers Championship this summer.
Isn’t that the new standard? The new “watch?”
“Probably not,” Hunter Mahan said. “Fifty-nine is a special number in golf. It’s pretty sacred. Until there’s numerous 58s, it’s not going to change. To start out with a ‘5’ is a cool thing.”
Appleby says a “59 watch” still should apply out of respect to those who have one. He was smiling because he’s one of them. He said when people have gone nearly 40 years thinking 59 was the number, that won’t change overnight.
“I guess it might have been like when Henry Ford invented the automobile, but people still talked about a horse-and-buggy,” he said.
The point of such a score is that it starts with a 5. Besides, no one would ever say that someone is on a sub-60 watch. There have been seven scores in the 50s on the PGA Tour since 1977. But there have been 32 scores at 60, starting with Al Brosch in 1951 at the Texas Open.
“It’s still cool to be the in 50s,” Stewart Cink said. “I don’t care if it happens once a week for the next 10 years, it’s still pretty cool for someone to get there.”
Furyk made par on the last hole at the TPC River Highlands to shoot his 58, and even he thinks a “59 watch” is still appropriate. Furyk said golf’s magic number on the PGA Tour lasted too long for it to be anything else.
“That barrier of 60 is still pretty cool,” said Furyk, the only player to have done it twice. “I still think someone is going to shoot 58, and someone is probably someday going to shoot 57. I hope I get to hold onto it like Geiberger did for 39 years. Other guys will shoot 58. But if 40 years from now someone shoots 57, that would be really cool. I’ll be in my 80s.”