There were a pair of 59s recorded on the PGA Tour in 2010. Will anyone go lower in 2011? GolfChannel.com managing editor Mercer Baggs and senior producer Brian Koressel offer up their takes.
By MERCER BAGGS No one will shoot lower than 59 on Tour this season. I’ll bet Brian’s next paycheck on that. All $73. Sure equipment is better than ever. Sure fields are deeper than ever. Sure there were a pair of 59s and a trio of 60s on Tour last year, compared with just two 60s and nothing lower in the three previous seasons combined. This year got off to a hot start as well as there was one 10-under-par and one 11-under-par performance at Kapalua. Wait ... which side am I on? So why won’t someone break the PGA Tour’s 18-hole scoring reacord in 2011? Since, ‘Because I said so’ isn’t satisfactory, I’ll go with course set-up. Last year, Tour officials set courses up – pin placements, in particular – a bit easier than in the past, thinking they needed to in order to keep players from overly complaining with the new grooves rule in effect. Grooves proved to be a hollow issue and guys took advantage of the better scoring conditions. Expect courses to play tougher in 2011. There will be plenty of low scores, as the trend from 2010 will continue into this season ... but no 58s. | By BRIAN KORESSEL If the PGA Tour’s recent motto of “These Guys are Good” is truly to be believed, then an eye-popping 58 must be on the horizon. As impressed as I am about the five 59s that have been shot on the PGA Tour – and Annika’s 59 on the LPGA – I am equally unimpressed that it hasn’t happened more often. Don’t get me wrong – shooting a 59 is flat-out crazy good. But if you do some quick math in your head, the odds would seemingly point to this feat happening more frequently. Here’s the breakdown: each year on the PGA Tour, there is somewhere in the vicinity of 17,000 rounds played during the season. That’s a staggering amount of rounds played by the world’s best golfers. And by the world’s best putters. And again, I realize shooting a sub-60 round is not only amazing, but truly historic. But as I have always thought, just the sheer amount of rounds played would equate to more guys getting red-hot for a day and going real low. Heck, if an Alabama junior golfer can shoot a 57 like he did last year, why shouldn’t guys that dot the PGA Tour leaderboards all year post a 57 at some point? Plus, I can just feel it in my bones – a 58 is lurking out there this year. |
