Brandt Snedeker opens Wyndham Championship with 11-under 59

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Brandt Snedeker carded an 11-under 59 overnight at the Wyndham Championship, the 10th sub-60 round in US PGA Tour history. It’s the first since Adam Hadwin’s 13-under 59 at the 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge, which came just one week after Justin Thomas’ 11-under 59 at the Sony Open.

And to think it began with a bogey at Sedgefield Country Club’s 400-metre par-4 10th hole, where Snedeker missed a seven-footer for par to start his round. After making pars at the 11th and 12th holes, let’s just say the ’59Watch’ wasn’t on.

But Snedeker got the putter going at the par-4 13th, holing a 26-footer to get back to even-par. He followed that with three consecutive birdies, including another 26-footer at the 14th and a 14-footer at the par-3 16th. Pars at 17 and 18 saw him turn in three-under 32, a strong front nine, but again, not exactly the makings of a 59.

That was until Snedeker reached Sedgefield’s front nine (his back nine), where made three straight birdies, all after stellar approach shots that left him five feet or less each time. This shot at the second hole nearly went in:

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At this point it was clear he was dialled in, sticking another at the par-3 third:

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A boring par at the fourth gave way to another run, this run his best of the day, starting with an easy up-and-down birdie at the par-5 fifth and then one of the shots of the year at the par-4 sixth, where Snedeker flew in a 7-iron from the fairway for eagle (and he didn’t even know it went in):

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At nine-under, this was realistically the first time 59 was in play, and Snedeker kept it rolling at the par-3 seventh, stroking his tee shot to within three feet:

That got him to 10-under, meaning he needed just one birdie on his final two holes (the course is a par-70) to card a 59. Once again, at the par-4 eighth, he hit another beautiful approach, this one coming to rest six feet from the hole and all but locking up another birdie. But Snedeker missed!

Snedeker found the fairway at the par-4 ninth, and hit one of his worst approaches of the day to 20 feet (sarcasm), needing to hole a long one for 59. He delivered:

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It was an incredible round from Snedeker, who was hampered by a rib injury for much of 2017, forcing him to call it a year last August. He began his 2017-’18 campaign in November at the RSM Classic and has had a decent season, but not one he’s accustomed to. In 22 events he has just three top-10s, but two of them have come in the past two months, a T-3 at The Greenbrier and a T-8 at the RBC Canadian Open. Those results, plus a historic 59, signal his game is trending in the right direction.

The round makes Snedeker the ninth player to shoot a sub-60 round on the US Tour. There have been 10 in total, but two have been shot by Jim Furyk. It’s the six time someone’s joined the club since 2010 alone. Surprisingly, if Snedeker goes on to win, he’d become just the fifth player to shoot a sub-60 round and win the event.