How many players were able to win after carding a sub-60 round? Record explained

Jake Knapp became the 14th golfer to shoot a round on the PGA Tour below 60 after carding a 59 in the first round of the Cognizant Classic on Thursday in West Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Following the conclusion of the third round, Knapp was sitting on a one-shot lead heading into Sunday at 16 under par. Knapp is trying to accomplish a feat that only five men have been able to do in the history of the PGA Tour: win a tournament in which they carded a round below 60.

A sub-60 round has been shot on the PGA Tour 15 times, with Jim Furyk doing it twice. Furyk holds the record for the lowest gross score ever shot in a PGA Tour round, carding a 58 in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship at TPC Riverhighlands in Connecticut, which is a par 70.

Furyk at the 2024 U.S. Senior Open Championship (via Getty)

Furyk accomplished the feat of shooting 59 at the 2013 BMW Championship. Even more impressive, Furyk shot both of his sub-60 rounds after the age of 40.

However, much like the majority of golfers who have shot a round below 60 on the PGA Tour, Furyk did not win either of the events that he broke 60 in. Furyk came in solo third at the 2013 BMW Championship and finished tied for 5th at the 2016 Travelers Championship.

Winners who shot 59

The last player to win the tournament in which he shot a round below 60 was Brandt Snedeker at the 2018 Wyndham Championship. Like Knapp, Snedeker shot his 59 in the opening round of the event at a course that is also a par 70, Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Since Snedeker's victory in 2018, four players have shot a 59 on Tour (excluding Knapp): Kevin Chappell in 2019; Scottie Scheffler in 2020; Cameron Young in 2024; and Hayden Springer in 2024. The best finish among those four was registered by Scheffler, finishing tied for fourth at the 2020 Northern Trust Open.

The year, before Snedeker shot 59 and won in 2018, Justin Thomas shot 59 in the first round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, en route to a runaway victory at the event, seven strokes ahead of the runner-up, Justin Rose.

Justin Thomas at Tthe 2025 Genesis Invitational (via Getty)

Thomas did it the week after winning what is now called the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Those two events were just the beginning of a career year for Thomas, in which he also won the PGA Championship and the Dell Technologies Championship, catapulting him to his first FedEx Cup title.

The other players to shoot 59 at a PGA Tour event and win include Al Geiberger at the 1977 Memphis Classic - he was the first to shoot 59 on Tour. David Duval shot 59 and won at the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Stuart Appleby shot 59 and won at the 2010 Greenbrier Classic.

Knapp aims to join the exclusive group on Sunday in Florida.