Double club switch rockets Jake Knapp to historic 59 in Cognizant Classic first round

Mark Townsend
PGA Tour golfer Jake Knapp
Jake Knapp - joined the 59 club.

Jake Knapp joined one of the most select clubs in the game when he shot a 59 in the first round of the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Florida.

The smooth-swinging American eclipsed Brian Harman and Matt Jones’ joint course record of 61 with six birdies on either nine, five of them in his first five holes, and he had a chance to do what only one other player has ever managed.

In 2016 Jim Furyk shot a 58 at the Travelers Championship and Knapp was -11 on the par-71 layout by the time he walked off the 15th green.

He couldn’t convert 26-foot and 14-foot birdie tries on the next two holes so came to the 18th needing a birdie to break the magical 60 mark.

After a 335-yard drive down the middle he conjured up a brilliant approach to 18 feet, leaving himself an eagle putt to match Furyk’s 58.

He missed it on the low side but tapped in to become just the 14th player in PGA Tour history to shoot a sub-60 round (Furyk has done it twice!).

New clubs fuel Knapp charge

Interestingly, there were two changes to Knapp’s bag and you would imagine that the new driver-putter combo won’t be going anywhere in the near future.

At the top end of the bag Knapp has been playing around with his driver. Two weeks ago the 30-year-old, who averaged 321 yards off the tee, was using a six-year-old TaylorMade M5 before switching to the more recent Qi10.

But this week he has the new Qi35 in the bag, a club that would help him notch up those 12 birdies.

At the other end he had been relying on a TaylorMade Spider but he was after something different and went with a new Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.2 Circle T mallet putter.

“Just felt like I needed to feel something a little different, whether it’s in my head sometimes it’s for a couple days or a couple weeks or whatever it might be,” he explained.

“But it was more like strategic based on how I feel like my misses have been lately with the putter. I don’t think I’ve been putting terribly, just something feel-wise that I just felt like I needed to feel something different.”

Knapp was ranked a more than respectable 54th in Strokes Gained: Putting coming into the week but just wanted something that might reignite his putting to a new level.

“I’ve always stayed with the same head shape for the most part and then I just change between that plumber’s neck and then a double bend, so a little bit of toe hang versus face balanced.

“But yeah, just something that kind of felt right for me and worked on it the last couple days, and it worked pretty well.”

Knapp added that it was only after his 11th birdie on 15 that he might be able to shoot a score that began with a 5.

“I knew obviously I had it going really early but, at the same time, that can happen and then it can kind of fizzle out pretty quick.

“I thought I did a good job of just trying to focus on shot by shot and not letting what happened or what could happen affect anything. Then once I made the long putt on 15, it was like, OK, now this is kind of here.

“But at the same time, didn’t let it affect the game plan or anything like that. Tried to hit an aggressive shot into 16, 17 and 18, and just knew I was hitting it well, so tried to just birdie everything.

“I knew par was 71. I saw the leaderboard that I was at 10 (under) when I walked up to 15 green, and then made that putt and knew where I stood. Would have been nice to make the one on 18, but happy with it overall.”

Only six of the 15 examples below went on to win so Knapp has work to do yet despite securing a four-shot lead after 18 holes.

Sub-60 rounds on the PGA Tour (plus finishing positions)

58
1 Jim Furyk 2016 Travelers Championship

59
1 Al Geiberger 1977 Memphis Classic Won
2 Chip Beck 1991 Las Vegas Invitational T3
3 David Duval 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Won
4 Paul Goydos 2010 John Deere Classic 2nd
5 Stuart Appleby 2010 Greenbrier Classic Won
6 Jim Furyk 2013 BMW Championship 3rd
7 Justin Thomas 2017 Sony Open Won
8 Adam Hadwin 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge 2nd
9 Brandt Snedeker 2018 Wyndham Championship Won
10 Kevin Chappell 2019 A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier T47
11 Scottie Scheffler 2020 The Northern Trust T4
12 Cameron Young 2024 Travelers Championship T9
13 Hayden Springer 2024 John Deere Classic T7
14 Jake Knapp 2025 Cognizant Classic ??

READ MORE: Fantastic Florida: The three best golf resorts anyone can play in the Sunshine State