Commissioner, players: 59 hasn’t lost its luster
In his first address to the media since becoming commissioner of the PGA Tour, Jay Monahan said two weeks ago that no one would break 60 in the Farmers Insurance Open. Smart man. Indeed, no player at Torrey Pines Golf Resort threatened 60, as champion Jon Rahm shot the lowest round on the beast otherwise known as the South (65) and Justin Rose carded the low round on the North (also 65).
Well, Monahan’s prediction will hold this week as well in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where players will be hardpressed to dial up 59 such as the ones Justin Thomas and Adam Hadwin signed for in the first three weeks of Monahan’s tenure.
Close to the Pacific Ocean and exposed to Mother Nature’s wrath, the three courses in play — Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club — will not be gentle.
Roaring winds, sideways rain and chilly temperatures marred Tuesday’s practice rounds, and the forecast shows more of the same until the sun is expected to appear Saturday. Tack on soft ground, sodden rough and sixhour rounds, and reaching 59 will demand a Herculean effort.
So it’s very unlikely the list of sub-60 rounds will get an addition this week as scoring binges go dry. Hadwin’s 59 was the ninth sub-60 in Tour history — the sixth since 2010 — and the third in six months. Jim Furyk shot the lowest round in history with a 58 in the Travelers Championship in August.
There was also a 60 and two 61s shot in the Sony Open the week Thomas carded his 59 en route to the all-time 72-hole record of 253.
A few weeks before Furyk’s historic round, Stephan Jaeger posted a 58 on the Web.com Tour in the Ellie Mae Classic.
Numerous factors have united to produce regular 59 watches in the age of the routine 300-yard drive. Equipment advances with golf balls and clubs have allowed players to gain more control despite achieving eye-opening distance. Weight training and physical fitness routines are commonplace among many players. Playing surfaces are immaculate with continued improvement in agronomy.
Portable launch monitors deliver immediate data to tap into. And more course setups feature manageable rough, inviting pin placements and benign bunkers. Add in a lack of wind, and 59 is in play.
All of which has led many to wonder if the game has become too easy for the world’s best. Monahan is not among those people.
“I tend to look at (the low scores) as a positive. Those are super-human feats,” he said. “I think a 59 rises us up and pulls more people into the PGA Tour, so I look at it as a positive.”
Jordan Spieth agrees that 59 hasn’t lost its luster. He said any round that ends with a score that starts with a5 remains illustrious.
“You see guys go 6 under through nine holes,” Spieth said. “That happens a number of times, but to be able to continue to push yourself and continue to hit the shots necessary and not really be a human for the rest of that round, you know what I mean? ... You’ve got to get normally a couple good breaks or obviously make some putts, but mentally you have to be so strong that round in order to do it. That’s why there aren’t that many, and it’s incredible.
“Mr. 58 will be Mr. 58, but 59 will stay just as significant, I imagine.”
For now.