Even in as bleak a year as 2020, feel-good stories rose from creativity, charity and success in golf. These are a few of our favorites.
The past year in golf presented loads of opportunities for inspiration, whether through perseverance, charity, beating the odds or just finding ways to create a few laughs. As our writers chronicled the ups and downs of life on Tour, and life in general, these stories stuck with us.
You’ll read about a family that created its own “golf course” to pass the time early in the COVID lockdown and also meet some of golf’s biggest personalities and those with the biggest hearts.
Looking for some inspiration to take into 2021? It’s likely among the following stories. Happy reading, and happy new year.
Relive some of golf’s greatest triumphs from the past calendar year, when a single shot set up the best kind of golf glory.
Sometimes it takes just one shot to change your fate in golf. Often that opportunity presents itself at a major, where the best field is assembled and the spoils are more than a simple trophy and a winner’s check. Major winners are remembered long after the final putt drops.
Amid a global pandemic, seven majors were salvaged in 2020. The U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur, what you might call amateur majors, were also played. But there was magic in other events, too, particularly in one writer’s home-state tour stop, a place where he knows the setting intimately.
Relive some of golf’s greatest triumphs from the past calendar year, when a single shot set up the best kind of golf glory.
This next generation of golfers and golf leaders is already comfortable addressing the status quo in golf. Add distance to that list.
Golf is a game built on tradition. It’s a sport defined by respect and rules of etiquette that span attire, behavior and care for the course. During a culture-shifting year like 2020, these norms were challenged.
Clubs like Augusta National and professional golfers like Cameron Champ promoted diversity and initiated conversations about making the sport visually represent the United States, but these actions only mark the beginning of a cultural and demographic shift that is overdue.
That’s where the next generation steps in.
This next generation of golfers and golf leaders is already comfortable addressing the status quo in golf. Members of Generation Z, born from the late 1990s through the mid-2010s, are already thinking about how the sport is changing and how they want the game they love to be perceived by future generations.
While all under the age of 30, their insights and experiences speak of where the sport is headed in the areas of distance, traditional fashion and most importantly, diversity.
This is part two of a three-part series analyzing Gen Z’s perception of the changing landscape of golf.
Distance, Bryson and the LPGA
An often-used word in the 2020 season: Distance. Another very popular word: Bryson.
You might have heard, but this year Bryson DeChambeau transformed his body and his game, adding 20 pounds before the Tour’s COVID-19 break in March and another 20 before the June restart. The 2015 U.S. Amateur winner spent two to three hours per day lifting in the gym and consumed 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day to achieve an athletic build unlike anyone in golf.
The plan was questioned for its effectiveness, but the distance DeChambeau achieved proves its brilliance.
In the 2018-19 season, DeChambeau ranked 24th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (.421) and 34th in driving distance (302.5 yards). In the 2019-20 season, he rose to first on the Tour in each category.
Bryson DeChambeau tees off on the ninth hole during the second round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. (Photo: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)
So far, DeChambeau, who had five Tour titles before his transformation, has been unrepentant of his experimentation and results. That’s what Josh Koch, 2018 and 2019 World Long Drive Championship qualifier and speed and distance coach, loves most about DeChambeau being the face of the distance debate.
“I think when guys get to the top level a lot of times there’s a level of complacency and rightfully so,” Koch said. “A lot of guys are afraid to kind of mess up what got them there and I don’t blame them. There is some truth to that. But his fearlessness of trying to keep pushing the bar and he’s not afraid to mess up or fail. I think that’s the thing I love the most about it: the fearlessness.”
After his 40-pound weight gain, DeChambeau won his first major in September at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. During his post-round interview, the 27-year-old recognized a few people who inspired him to work to achieve the impressive distance he has this year: World Long Drive competitors Kyle Berkshire, currently No. 1 in the world; Justin James, No. 4; and Koch.
“They all inspired me to try to go harder at (gaining speed and distance),” DeChambeau said of the World Long Drive competitors in September. “They’re the ones breaking the barriers. I can see what is possible so that inspires me to keep pushing the limits.”
Koch is impressed with how DeChambeau has trained his body, gained speed and produced results. But even more, Koch loves what DeChambeau is doing for the sport – loves that DeChambeau’s hard work, sense of adventure and creativity are making the game fun.
It can be intoxicating, especially for young players.
“It’s the sex appeal of golf. It really is,” Koch said. “No matter where you’re at, this is the crazy thing, I don’t feel like anyone really ever feels like they’re fast enough. I’ve never heard someone say they wouldn’t mind gaining a few more miles per hour of speed. With where the stigma was going, it’s like where is the ceiling going to be at? … I think that’s in part to this Bryson Effect and basically, the millennials growing up who are chasing because the reality is speed is longevity. Not only does it keep you more competitive now but it also keeps you playing the game longer.”
In 2019-20, DeChambeau averaged a Tour-best 322.1 yards off the tee. The Tour average was 296.4 yards. In his three appearances this season, which includes two majors, the distance of his average drive jumped to 337.8 yards. In the 2020 season, Cameron Champ was runner-up in distance (322.0) followed by Ryan Brehm (315.3), Rory McIlroy (314.0) and Grayson Murray (313.8), respectively.
While DeChambeau has dominated the distance conversation, it’s a topic on the LPGA, too. Rookie Bianca Pagdanganan led the tour in distance (283.071), with Maria Fassi a close second (282.173). The 23-year-old Pagdanganan is not a protein-shake pounder like DeChambeau. Imagine what she could do if she pulled a Bryson.
Distance is proving to be a big differentiator on the LPGA. All of the top 10 in distance are under 30 years old and only three in the top 20 are 30 or older.
Ryan Ruffels of Australia hits off the 18th tee in the third round of the Utah Championship. (Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Ryan Ruffels, who currently plays on the PGA Latinoamerica Tour and was 13th on the Korn Ferry Tour in distance last season (318.3), said he’s always played long so emphasizing distance was a part of his game before DeChambeau’s transformation took it to a new level. However, he saw firsthand how important distance is becoming in the LPGA when he caddied for younger sister Gabi, a senior at USC, at the Pelican Women’s Championship in November.
“I told my sister, she’s got a tremendous opportunity to dominate on the LPGA tour because there’s starting to be a few here and there,” Ruffels said. “Obviously Lexi (Thompson), Maria Fassi and people who are starting to bomb it and have some success. If you can be one of those people on the LPGA tour, I think there’s a tremendous opportunity to dominate because I don’t think anyone’s really quite done it yet to the level that let’s say Tiger did it in the early 2000s and Bryson’s doing it now but they just separate themselves completely in that category.”
While Hailey Borja, a sophomore on the University of Michigan’s women’s golf team, and Ruffels agreed that women typically hit the ball straighter than men, the emphasis on distance could propel the women’s game to a place it has never been. Ruffels would obviously like that person to be his sister, who won the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur and was runner-up at that event in 2020, but thinks the star who could change the women’s game is just on the horizon.
Borja said she’s primarily focused on hitting the ball straight rather than hitting bombs, but the conversation of gaining more distance is a common one among college golfers.
“It’s definitely being thought about,” she said. “I am one of the more average-to-shorter hitters so me and my coaches have definitely been working on strength and conditioning for me as well as getting my club speed up so I can hit the ball farther.”
Koch, Ruffels and DeChambeau are all unsure about where the game is headed, but they recognize Pandora’s Box has been opened. And they’re not afraid.
Young golfers see the results of DeChambeau and top LPGA stars, and with access to the same technology like TrackMan, pressure plates, biomechanists and trainers, young golfers are willing and able to copy those gains.
“Now that golf’s being viewed as an athletic sport and there are more athletes playing, the reality is if you get more athletes swinging the club, they’re going to be able to swing it faster and then someone else is going to be able to do it,” Koch said. “I think there are a lot of factors … definitely the biggest one is just a testament to where coaching and the technology available has evolved to people under 30.”
The year began with the release of the Distance Insights Report, a joint effort by the USGA and R&A. In a 102-page document which includes data and information from 56 different projects, golf’s governing bodies determined distance is playing an excessive role in the game and causing the sport to go in an unsustainable direction. Those conversations about the future of the game will continue into 2021.
When asked how DeChambeau’s gains impact the tradition of the game, Koch noted golf has been challenged with the approach of a new young star before, and he made the sport better. Woods, who began playing professional events in 1992, long before Borja or Ruffels were alive, ushered in an era of entertainment in golf resulting in the highest annual increase in rounds played in the U.S. (63 million) in 1997, when Woods won his first Masters title. DeChambeau is proving to be a similarly impactful player in that he has changed the narrative for what a player needs to do to be successful.
Tiger Woods celebrates after sinking a 4 feet putt to win the 1997 Masters. (Photo: Stephen Munday /Allsport)
“We’re always going to be trying to get stronger, fitter and more athletic, and Tiger inspired this whole generation to do this and we’re going to keep going after it,” DeChambeau said after the U.S. Open. “I don’t think it’s going to stop. Will they reign it back? I’m sure. I’m sure something might happen. I don’t know what it will be, I just know it’s always going to be an advantage.”
What the governing bodies do, or don’t do, in terms of rolling back the performance of golf balls or dialing back the distance of drivers remains to be seen. These questions were put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, but the USGA and R&A are expected to release the next phase of their report in late 2021, at the earliest. Any changes that result could not realistically take effect for years.
Koch knows the increased focus on distance is now part of the game. DeChambeau proved this new strategy is possible, and more than that, it’s fun.
“As the game gets younger it has to keep appealing to different demographics. It’s like anything, unfortunately, stuff changes and gravitates over time,” Koch said. “Right now it’s exciting. As far as the purists go, they should, in my opinion, want what’s best for the game and what’s best for the game is that distance and that debate is creating some excitement around the game …
“At the end of the day, if there’s that buzz it’s going to get people watching. If it gets people watching that, essentially it’s going to grow the game for future generations.”
The lack of people at PGA Tour events in 2020 during a global pandemic was eerie, but it gave Steve DiMeglio a new look at a familiar arena.
Covering golf, at every level and on every tour, in 2020 was unlike anything our writers have experienced. Through the end of the year, our staff is looking back on what will forever stand out from the season of COVID – a season during which every aspect of the game we love was impacted by a global pandemic.
They remain haunting reminders of a year we’d like to forget.
Empty economy parking lots at airports.
It’s an image that first shook me as I headed to Ohio in July for a PGA Tour doubleheader at Muirfield Village, my first flight in five months. Already a tad on the uneasy side given COVID-19, nearly four months of quarantine and the potential risks undertaken on the ground and in the sky, seeing the massive, vacant economy parking lots at Jacksonville (Florida) International Airport was another unsettling, sobering sign the world was off kilter.
From Ohio to San Francisco to Las Vegas to Los Angeles to Chicago to Atlanta, the barren lots have yet to shed their vacuity and grim impact. Nor has the acreage of fan-less viewing sites at tournaments. Birdies and eagles are still met with silence. Conversations between player and caddie can still be heard from 30 yards away.
The East Economy Lot at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is largely devoid of parked vehicles on April 13, 2020. (Photo: David Wallace/The Republic, Arizona Republic)
More than six months after the Tour returned in June following a 13-week break due to the global pandemic, the new world order remains as the traveling circus moves about North America – one consisting of masks, protective bubbles, COVID-19 tests, temperature checks, social distancing, Zoom calls, sparse media centers, elbow bumps and air hugs, sanitizing wipes, abundant hand washing, takeout orders and Uber Eats.
It has become a world of adaption, and the PGA Tour was up to the challenge. From the get-go after the COVID-19 shutdown – which began on Friday the 13th of March – the Tour adapted quickly and quite impressively. A disturbing scare in Hilton Head at the RBC Heritage the second week back, where spring break was raging along with the coronavirus to form an appalling twosome, was among the reasons PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan flew north from Florida to the Travelers Championship in Connecticut the following week to read the riot act to players and caddies. Monahan’s words did not fall on deaf ears as the players and caddies fully bought in and safety measures to combat the infectious predator were taken seriously and have been actively followed.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan walks on the first hole during a practice round for the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
With the bubble intact and all working as one, the golf went on – and was stellar that last half of the year, which helped at times to overshadow the unease due to COVID-19. Collin Morikawa winning twice, including his first major at the PGA Championship with the drive heard round the golf world. Bryson DeChambeau growing, smashing and putting his way to become the talk of golf while winning twice, including his first major at the U.S. Open where he battered his colleagues and venerable Winged Foot.
Jon Rahm winning at Jack’s place in Dublin, Ohio, and in a FedEx Cup playoff event south of Chicago. Among other victors were stars Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland.
And there was world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who won the FedEx Cup and his 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th Tour titles, the most recent coming with a green jacket. He also tied for second in the PGA Championship, lost in a playoff to Rahm in the BMW Championship, tied for second in Houston and tied for sixth in the U.S. Open.
Bryson DeChambeau celebrates on the 18th green after winning the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. (Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
There were other silver linings to find among the dark clouds that mark 2020.
Front-row seats at the Masters, where one literally could get within 10 feet of Tiger Woods teeing off on the 12th at the heart of Amen Corner. Needing just five minutes to get to Augusta National when the same drive would have taken 20-30 minutes in 2019. Seeing a squirrel for the first time at the Masters and discovering stairs on the left side of the 16th that lead to the sixth tee.
Driving in San Francisco, LA, Chicago and Atlanta was an applauded breeze. The safest places I encountered were the airports and planes and rental cars, all of them as clean as I’ve ever seen. Playing slots in Las Vegas wearing a mask and hitting my first royal flush without needing a wild card made the next day’s work at TPC Summerlin that much more enjoyable.
And testing negative four times and staying healthy – knock on a 3-wood.
Have you ever wondered what Corona Virus testing in sport looks like…bet you don’t want to know what it feels like! pic.twitter.com/GUCxdn7oiI
Turns out 2020 wasn’t all bad – it just seemed that way at times. Still, the calendar flipping to 2021 can’t come soon enough and with it, hope that the new year will be drastically different. One where I can see and hear earsplitting galleries, especially at the Masters and Ryder Cup. Head over the pond to the Open Championship. Experience traffic jams en route to the golf course, do walk-and-talks with players inside the ropes again. See high-fives and handshakes. Continue to marvel at the stellar golf in front of me.
Crowded scrums and packed media centers would be welcomed. Players signing autographs and posing for selfies again would be nice. Bellying up to a bar – indoors – and crushing a meal – indoors – would be nicely greeted.
And yes, seeing rows and rows and rows of cars in the economy parking lots at airports would be a cheered view leading to a smile.
Danny Lee has withdrawn from the U.S. Open, and it wasn’t a particularly pretty end at Winged Foot Golf Club.
Danny Lee has withdrawn from the U.S. Open, and it wasn’t a particularly pretty end at Winged Foot Golf Club.
Lee, the 30-year-old from New Zealand, managed to hold it together moderately well through the start of the day. He was 3 over through five holes but logged his first birdie at No. 7. Bogeys followed at Nos. 10 and 14, then a final birdie at No. 17.
Lee’s performance on the par-4 18th is where it gets wacky. Try to make sense of the quintuple bogey posted on live scoring, and it’s just a jumble of putts. Lee was aboard the green in three shots, but it took six more to get it down. After the initial four-footer for par, he had putts from six feet, six feet, seven feet, four feet and seven feet. That closed out a third-round 78.
No camera footage apparently exists of the Lee debacle, but Saturday’s hole location – just four paces from the left side of the green – might help explain the frustration.
Marshals described the situation using the term “whack-a-mole,” according to Golf Digest. Lee did not head to the flash area for an interview after the round.
Shortly after the third round, Lee withdrew from the tournament, citing a wrist injury. He was 13 over for the week.
Dustin Johnson grew his Northern Trust lead with a third-round 64, a day after his round of 60, at TPC Boston.
NORTON, Mass. – The law of averages says that over time things even out, but Dustin Johnson did not go to law school while he was at Coastal Carolina University.
The 36-year-old arrived here at TPC Boston, site of this week’s Northern Trust, averaging just over four birdies per round in PGA Tour events this season. On Friday, when he shot 60, Johnson made seven, to go along with two eagles.
The law of averages would say that Johnson should cool off on Saturday, and while it’s true that he did not shoot another 60, even before rain forced play to be suspended at 3:45 p.m., with Johnson in the ninth fairway, he had four circles on his card.
No, he didn’t shoot another 60, but he did shoot 64 thanks to six birdies and another eagle. The 2016 U.S. Open winner is at 22 under and will take a five-shot lead into Sunday over both Harris English (66) and Scottie Scheffler (67).
Louis Oosthuizen shot 68 and will begin the final round of the Northern Trust in fourth place, seven shots behind Johnson.
“I’m in a great position and like where I’m at, but I’m still going to have to go out and shoot a good score,” Johnson said.”You can go low out here, and guys are going low every day, especially with the conditions we have.”
Scottie Scheffle (front) and Dustin Johnson walk to the fifth tee during the third round of the Northern Trust. (Photo: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports)
English applied some pressure to Johnson on the back nine, pitching in on the 14th hole from 42 feet away to reach 19 under, one off Johnson’s lead at that time.
“(My) irons have been awesome all week this week, and I feel like it’s a great mid-iron golf course,” English said. “I had my putting going today, as well. So, kind of everything was clicking. I felt like I managed it pretty well, and short game was good. Tough finish, not the finish I was looking for but felt like I got a lot of momentum going into tomorrow.”
Yeah, about that finish.
English pushed his tee shot on the 176-yard par-3 16th to the right and then missed a 7-footer for par. Then, after his approach to the 17th came up 75 feet short, his first putt ran 8 feet beyond the cup, and he missed the comebacker for par.
Johnson, on the other hand, finished like Secretariat. He made an 18-footer for birdie on 17 and then eagled the 18th hole after hitting his approach shot from 219 yards to 40 feet and making a twisting putt.
"COME ON EAGLE! COME ON EAGLE!" @DJohnsonPGA finishes the round with an eagle 👏
“Obviously I did what I wanted to and drove it in the fairway, knocked it on the green, and obviously making that putt is a bonus,” he said. “It was a pretty tough putt up and over a ridge and breaking a lot. But had perfect speed on it and it went in.”
After play on Sunday, the players ranked No. 70 or better on the FedEx Cup points list will be eligible to compete next week at the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Golf Club outside Chicago.
Several well-known players – including Jordan Spieth, Harold Varner and Graeme McDowell – missed the cut at the Northern Trust and started the week ranked higher than No. 70 on the FedEx Cup points list. Their 2019-20 PGA Tour seasons are done. Sunday will be a big day for many other well-known pros who arrived at TPC Boston ranked higher than No. 70 and who made the cut.
Harry Higgs, who started the week at No. 72, is helping himself by shooting 67-66-66. There are 18 more holes to be played, but he is projected to move up to 34th, while Alex Noren came here in the No. 78 spot and is projected to No. 54th.
On the other side of the coin, Rickie Fowler needs to go low and hop over more players. He came to the Northern Trust ranked No. 88 in FedEx Cup points and is projected to rise to No. 96. Zach Johnson, a two-time major winner, started at No. 104, but he is T-29 after three rounds at TPC Boston and is projected to only rise to No. 93.
After missing the cut at the Northern Trust, several big names who started the week ranked higher than No. 70 in FedEx Cup points are out.
NORTON, Mass. – The numbers don’t play favorites, and after missing the cut at the Northern Trust, several well-known golfers who started the week ranked higher than No. 70 on the FedEx Cup points list have now been eliminated from the playoffs. Only players ranked 70 or better are eligible to play in next week’s BMW Championship.
While it is not official yet, Phil Mickelson will almost assuredly finish worse than 70th on the FedEx Cup points list. Mickelson started the week at No. 67 and missed the cut. As of Friday night, he is projected to move to 76th, and the Hall of Famer has already said that he plans to play the PGA Tour Champions event that starts on Monday.
Among those golfers who will not be moving on are:
Jordan Spieth – The winner of the 2015 FedEx Cup, Spieth entered the Northern Trust ranked No. 100 on the point list, but his 71-69 performance left him one shot over the cutline.
Harold Varner III – Started the week at No. 73 and missed the cut after shooting 71-69
Shane Lowry – Despite playing in eight tournaments after the PGA Tour restarted in June, the 2019 British Open champion entered the week at No. 122 on the FedEx Cup points list. He missed the cut at TPC Boston by two shots.
Lucas Glover – The 2009 U.S. Open champion entered the week at No. 115 on the FedEx Cup point list and shot 70-75.
Brandt Snedeker – The 2012 FedEx Cup winner struggled after the PGA Tour restart and started the week at No. 98. he shot 73 and 72 at the Northern Trust to miss the cut.
Graeme McDowell – This was the eighth event for the 2010 U.S. Open champion, who started the week at No. 113 on the point list. Since the tour restarted and after shooting 77-72, he missed the cut for the sixth time.
The second round of the Northern Trust was a wild day of scoring, especially for Dustin Johnson and Scottie Scheffler.
NORTON, Mass. – Danny Lee walked off the golf course after shooting a 64, signed his scorecard and talked with a couple of media members. He was one of the first players to complete his loop of TPC Boston on Friday morning, and his name was at the top of the leaderboard. Anyone who shoots 66-64 to start a tournament has the right to pump out his chest a little and feel good about things, but by the time Lee’s rental car rolled down the driveway and turned onto Route 40, his fantastic start at the 2020 Northern Trust would be forgotten.
The course, originally designed by Arnold Palmer in 2002 and updated in 2017 by Gil Hanse, became an aviary on Friday. Birdies and eagles were flying everywhere, and Scottie Scheffler and Dustin Johnson were hunting.
Scheffler set a tournament course and posted the 12th sub-60 round ever on the PGA Tour, shooting a 59 in the morning wave that included 12 birdies. He finished at 13 under. But five hours after he holed a 4-footer on the 18th green, Johnson missed a 25-footer on the same hole for a 59. He tapped in from 2 feet for a 60.
At 15-under, Johnson will take a two-shot lead over Scheffler and Cameron Davis (who had a second-round 65) into the third round of the Northern Trust. He will have a three-shot lead over Lee, Louis Oosthuizen (65) and Harris English (66).
“Today was obviously a good day on the course. I got off to a really good start and made a bunch of birdies on the front nine,” Scheffler said. “Had some key up-and-downs at the beginning of the round that kind of got me rolling, freed me up a little bit. Then the momentum just kind of kept going. I never really lost momentum, which was nice. A lot of times, when you’re playing well, you can lose that momentum toward the end of the round or have a hiccup here or there. The momentum stayed the whole time, and I made a lot of putts.”
After hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation, Scheffler needed just 23 putts on Friday.
Johnson, who is ranked No. 4 on the Official World Golf Rankings and started the day at 4 under, surged up the leaderboard and set a front-nine tournament record by shooting 27. He made five birdies and two eagles and then birdied the next two holes to reach 11-under par for the day through 11 holes.
Had fans been lining the ropes lines and filling the bleachers, as there have been in past years, the noise would have rivaled the roars heard when the New England Patriots score at Gillette Stadium.
“Everything was going well today,” Johnson said. “Any time you’re that many under through 11 holes, you’re putting well. I made some nice putts, but also I hit some really good shots.”
After having a terrible putting day on Thursday morning, Johnson hit the practice green Thursday afternoon and found a spark using a drill that helps him position his right arm more effectively. He repeated the exercise on Friday before his round and utilized it before several putts on the course Friday. It paid off because Johnson made over 151 feet of putts in the second round and was the leader in strokes gained putting for the day, too (5.132).
Both Scheffler and Johnson said they were very aware that a 59 was possible as they came down the stretch, and they took similar approaches to handling it.
[vertical-gallery id=778062208]
“I wouldn’t say those thoughts are negative at all,” Scheffler said. “You obviously put them in the back of your head when you’re hitting shots, but as far as thinking about (shooting 59), it’s not necessarily a negative because it encourages me to continue to make birdies.”
Johnson also wanted to attack the course and said that he was looking to make birdies on every hole, but a couple of wayward tee shots on the back nine prevented him from attacking a few flags.
If there is one shot he regrets, it is the tee shot on 18.
“I should have hit 3-wood off the tee there because I could have had 3-wood and 6-iron on the green,” Johnson said. “If I had to do over again, I’d hit a 3-wood there.”
Two rounds of 59 have never been fired on the same day at the same PGA Tour event. However, this is the second time there has been a 59 and a 60. In 2010, Paul Goydos shot 59 and Steve Stricker posted the 60 in the first round of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.
While plenty of low scores were posted at TPC Boston on Friday, several notable players struggled and missed the cut of 3 under (139). Jordan Spieth finished at 2 under, Tony Finau was 1 under, and Phil Mickelson, Patrick Cantlay, Gary Woodland and Bryson DeChambeau ended at even par. Collin Morikawa, the PGA Championship winner two weeks ago, struggled to a 1-over finish to miss his second career cut as a professional.
Dustin Johnson stole the show in the second round of the Northern Trust with a 59 watch of his own at TPC Boston.
A day that started with a hopeful 59 watch for Scottie Scheffler may end with an entirely different player stealing all the headlines.
Dustin Johnson teed off in the afternoon wave right about the time Scheffler birdied the 18th hole at TPC Boston in the second round of the Northern Trust to bring in what was the 12th round of 59 in PGA Tour history.
Who knows what the inspiration factor was in that for Johnson, but the 21-time PGA Tour winner instantly started reeling off birdies and eagles of his own. He put together a tidy little pattern of birdie-eagle-birdie-eagle-birdie through the first five holes before adding birdies at Nos. 7 and 8 for a front-nine 27.
He doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. Johnson’s back nine started with birdies at Nos. 11 and 12. He is 11 under through 13 holes.
At this rate, we could be in store for something much, much greater than a 59.
Johnson, the 2016 U.S. Open champion, entered the first FedEx Cup Playoff event after a T-2 at the PGA Championship and a T-12 the week before that at the World Golf Championships FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Scottie Scheffler posted the historic number on Friday at TPC Boston for the Northern Trust, rocketing up the leaderboard in the process.
Add another 59 to the PGA Tour record books. Scottie Scheffler logged the iconic number at TPC Boston on Friday in the second round of the Northern Trust.
Scheffler’s round of 12-under 59 came after an opening 1-under 70. He rocketed more than 70 spots up the leaderboard, into the solo lead at 13 under.
The former Texas player’s first birdie came at the par-5 second hole. He added birdies at Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 to turn in 30, then kept it going on the back with birdies at Nos. 10, 11, 14, 15 and 16. For the final birdie on No. 18, he faced just more than 4 feet. He drained it make history.
It’s the 12th sub-60 score in PGA Tour history. Kevin Chappell was the last player to accomplish the feat at The Greenbrier in 2019.
