Image Courtesy of Greenwood/ Getty Images
Furyk teed off in group 22 at 11:59 AM from the 10th tee. He came out on firing with birdies on 10, 11 and 12 making birdie putts of nine, three and four feet respectively. After a par at 13, Furyk made a quality up and down for birdie at the Par-5 14th. You could tell he was playing well but the sign that the golf gods were with him on Friday the 13th was when he holed a wedge from 115 yards on the Par-4 15th hole for eagle. He ended his opening nine with an eight foot birdie at the 17th and an 11 foot birdie at the Par-5 18th. Furyk finished his open nine with a career low total of 28 playing himself right back into the BMW Championship.
He made the turn with a par at the Par-4 first hole and followed with birdies at the Par-3 second, Par-4 third and Par-4 fourth with putts of 13, 26 and five feet. His first blemish of the day came at the Par-4 fifth hole, a hole that he double-bogeyed in round one, making a bogey from just off the green.Furyk made par on the Par-3 sixth, two putting from 23 feet leaving him 10 under on his round to that point. He then rebounded with a birdie at the Par-4 seventh to push it back to 11 under on the day.
With the Par-5 eighth and Par-4 ninth left he was in as good a position as possible to shoot a record trying 59.Furyk was 11 yards from the eighth green in two needing an up and down to get to 12 under par. He was not able to make birdie and was one shot off the record heading to the Par-4 18th. Furyk played two quality shots to 3 feet on the closing hole, drained the put and just like that made PGA Tour history becoming the sixth player in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59.
Below are the highlights of Jim Furyk’s 59 today at the BMW Championship.
httpv://youtu.be/ww-NOqkGnt0
Other than Furyk, five players in PGA Tour history have reach golfs magic number. The 59 club includes Stuart Appleby at the 2010 Greenbrier Classic, Paul Goydos at the 2010 John Deere Classic, David Duval at the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Chip Beck at the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational and Al Geiberger at the 1977 Memphis Classic. Appleby, Duval and Geiberger won their respective events while none of the five finished worse than third.
Two players needed every stroke of the 59 in the final round to win their events. Appleby needed a birdie on the final hole to win the Greenbrier and Duval needed an eagle on the final hole to win the Bob Hope. Earlier this year Phil Mickelson came one horeshoed missed put from shooting 59 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Anika Sorenstam is the only player on the LPGA Tour to shoot 59 and she accomplished the feat in 2001 at the Standard Register Ping. The Web.com Tour has also recorded five 59s. There were two 59s on the Web.com Tour in 2013 including Will Wilcox at the Utah Championship and Russell Knox at the Albertson’s Boise Open. Jason Gore also shot 59 in 2005 while Doug D
unakey and NotahBegay III shot golfs magic number in 1998.
Image Courtesy of Greenwood/ Getty Images
Low scores are not uncommon but 59 is the gold standard and Jim Furyk joins the club at the BMW Championship on Friday the 13th 2013 at Conway Farms during the third FedExCup playoff event. What does this mean to Furyk and golf? It will be a moment captured in the record books and a story he can tell the grandkids. He will be asked about it for a period of time but more importantly for Furyk he played himself right into the thick of it at the BMW Championship after a one over opening round. Furyk can see theFedExCup and its hefty $10 million winner’s check just like the won he earned in 2010. If Furyk can manage to win the FedExCup he would be the second multiple winner (Tiger Woods 2007 and 2009) since the format began in 2007.
Congratulations are in order for the veteran who put together one of the great rounds in PGA Tour history today ironically on Friday the 13th. The only thing scary about this Friday the 13th was how well he played. Furyk played his way back into contention at the BMW Championship and the FedExCup Playoffs. Watch out field, Furyk looks like he has Conway Farms figured out. Good luck the rest of the week Jim but no matter what you earned your piece of history today.
Image Courtesy of the PGA Tour
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