Furyk fires 58, sets PGA record
CROMWELL, Conn. — Jim Furyk has a place in PGA Tour history all to himself with a new magic number in golf.
Three years after Furyk became the sixth player on tour with a 59, he took it even lower Sunday in the Travelers Championship with a 58.
The 46-year-old American bounced in an eagle from 135 yards on his third hole, ran off seven straight birdies around the turn and picked up his final birdie on the 16th hole with a putt from just inside 24 feet. He rolled in a short par putt on the final hole at TPC River Highlands, thrust his arms in the air and waved his cap to salute thousands of fans who had rushed to the amphitheater around the 18th green to catch a stunning slice of history.
Russell Knox closed with a 2-under 68 for a 14-under 266 total to win the Travelers. The 31-year-old Scot won for the second time on the tour, following his breakthrough victory in China in November in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions.
“There’s a lot of rounds by a lot of great players ahead of me that have never reached 58, so to hold that record alone right now, on the PGA Tour at least ... is phenomenal,” said Furyk, who tied for fifth with an 11-under 269. “To have a little, small place in history is something you dream of.”
It might be one of the best rounds hardly anyone saw.
Furyk, who started the final round 16 shots out of the lead, had less than a dozen fans watching when he teed off at 8:41 a.m.
It might not have happened if Furyk had not gone this road before. He shot a 59 at Conway Farms in the second round of the 2013 BMW Championship with a bogey on his card.
“I guess had I never shot 59 before, I probably would have been thinking 59, the barrier,” he said. “But the fact that I did it three years ago, you know, in the back of my mind I’ve got 11-under through 12; I’ve got six holes to play. If I play them under par, I’m going to break another barrier.”
Furyk is the only player with sub-60 rounds twice. And it would appear that both times, he had to settle for history, not a trophy. He finished third at the 2013 BMW Championship.
“No one else can say they’ve done that out here on the PGA Tour,” he said. “It’s really special.”