PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Jake Knapp knew he was on the verge of something special early on Thursday, with a run of five straight birdies to open his round at the Cognizant Classic.
And by the end, he joined one of golf’s most elite clubs.
Knapp — the No. 99 player in golf’s current world rankings — joined the PGA Tour’s sub-60 club on Thursday, shooting a bogey-free 59 in the opening round at PGA National. It was the 15th time that someone has broken 60 in a PGA Tour event.
“It’s just one of those days where everything was kind of clicking,” Knapp said.
Knapp finished one shot off the tour scoring record of 58, done by Jim Furyk in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship. Knapp became the 14th player to shoot a sub-60 round; it has been done 15 times, with Furyk the one who has carded such a round twice.
Knapp had a putt for eagle at the par-5 18th that would have tied Furyk’s mark of 58 — 18 feet, 8 inches was the measurement given by the PGA Tour. The eagle putt didn’t have the speed and he tapped in for 59.
And yes, he was thinking about 58 — especially after a long birdie putt at the 15th put him at 11 under for the round.
“I stepped up on the 16 tee and just kind of told my caddie, ‘Let’s play 2 under in the last three,’” Knapp said. “‘Let’s do what we’re supposed to do.’”
He had to settle for 59, if a 59 can ever actually be settled for.
“I thought I played well,” said Daniel Berger, who had a bogey-free round of 8-under 63. “But then someone shot 59.”
The 12-birdie round on the par-71 course also broke the previous Cognizant scoring record of 61, first done in 2012 by Brian Harman and matched in 2021 by Matt Jones. There are three rounds of 62 in tournament history — Tiger Woods in the final round in 2012 on his way to a tie for second, Brandon Hagy in the second round in 2021 and eventual winner Chris Kirk in the second round of the 2023 event.
There was barely any wind and PGA National was largely defenseless in the morning session. The closest there was to any trouble was the seventh hole, where Billy Horschel — a Florida Gator from his college days — used a club to poke at an actual alligator that was catching some sun near the green and got it to retreat back to its watery home.
Even that was easy on Thursday morning. But nobody had an easier time than Knapp, who finished no better than a tie for 17th in any of his first seven starts of 2025 — and then played his way into golf history in Round 1 at PGA National.
Knapp has one PGA Tour win, that coming at last year’s Mexico Open. He’s played the Cognizant only once before and did well, tying for fourth last year after shooting three rounds of 68 or better and finishing at 13 under.
And this year, so far, he’s even better.
He started Thursday with five straight birdies, that stretch highlighted by a 60-foot chip-in at the par-4 second hole. The birdies kept coming in bunches; three in a row on holes 9 through 11, three more coming on holes 13 through 15 — the last of those a big breaking putt from 31 feet, going across the green before dropping dead center into the cup.
Mike Stephens, Knapp’s caddie, said they were not afraid to talk about the chances that awaited on the final three holes.
“I think if anything, maybe your playing competitors try to give you a little distance or whatnot, but he likes to talk,” Stephens said. “So, we’d kind of go over things on the last couple (holes), to try to fill the time. Just to keep it the same. … Just another day.”
Well, not quite. A 59 is not just another day.
A 12-footer for birdie on the par-3 17th hit the outside right edge of the cup and spun off, leaving Knapp at 11 under with only the par-5 finishing hole left.
A 335-yard tee shot left him 200 yards to the hole at No. 18, and a simple two-putt was all that remained to cap the history-making round.
“Whether I shot 89 or 59, I’m going to come back out and do my job tomorrow,” Knapp said.
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