Jim Furyk became the sixth player in the history of the PGA Tour on Friday to shoot 59 in an official event.
His 12-under round at Conway Farms, however, was the first to ever come with a bogey on the card. It was a three-putt bogey at the par-3 fifth hole that eventually kept Furyk from being the first to shoot 58 on the PGA Tour.
Regardless of the dropped shot, the 59 was still incredible -- and it looks even better compared to what the BMW Championship field did on Friday just outside of Chicago.
Furyk had the round of the day by six shots, beating the field average by a remarkable 12.1 shots. In other words: Low scores really were not out there to be had, but Furyk made one for himself.
After all the back-patting, however, how does Furyk's 59 compare to the others in golf history? Turns out, really well.
There have been 15 players ever to shoot 59 on a major golf tour. Five of them have been shot on par-72 courses, meaning those players -- including the first, Al Geiberger in 1977 -- were 13 under par in their magical rounds. Furyk was 12 under par on Friday, but that meant he also had one less par 5 than the others.
Furyk's 59 against the Friday field everage at the BMW Championship, however, was the second best of any player to break 60 in a round.
When Ryo Ishikawa closed the 2010 The Crowns in Japan with 12-under 58, he was better than the field average by 13.1 strokes. Then again, that came on a sub-7,000-yard golf course, meaning Ishikawa was hitting shorter irons into practically every hole compared to Furyk at the lengthy Conway Farms.
All in all, Furyk probably had the third-greatest sub-60 round in history, behind David Duval's 59 to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 1999 and Al Geiberger's groundbreaking 59 in Memphis, but ahead of Ryo Ishikawa's 58.
Now the big question for Furyk is if he can seal the deal and win this third leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. He has a better than 50 percent chance. Of the 14 players to previously break 60 in a major golf tournament, eight went on to win.
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