Hayden Springer has written his name into the PGA Tour history books after shooting a stunning 12-under 59 in his first round of the John Deere Classic.
The PGA Tour rookie, who only earned his card via Q-School last December, became just the 13th player to break 60 in tour history.
Springer, ranked No.236 in the world, shot eight birdies and two eagles in the best round of his career to sit atop the leaderboard at TPC Deere Run.
Asked after his round if he had ever shot 59, he replied: “I have not, no. I’ve shot 61 a few times.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty special to be able to do that,” he added. “I played well last week, but it’s been a little bit tough to kind of find anything and get stuff going and go low.
“So it is special. It feels good to be standing here and to have shot a good round of golf.”
After an opening par, Springer caught fire to shoot an eight-under 27 on the front nine, a frontside course record at TPC Deere Run and the lowest nine-hole score on the PGA Tour since 2000.
He cooled off in the back nine before adding a birdie on 15 and a sensational eagle on the par-5 17th, holing out from 55 yards.
Springer then knew he needed a birdie on the last to make that magic 59 mark – and he did just that.
“When it went in on 17 I immediately knew, okay, now I have a chance,” he said. “I mean, I didn’t ever think I would make that shot really, but it kind of changed the momentum to actually be able to go shoot 59.
“At a loss for words in terms of being able to do that. I feel like that’s one of the rare things in golf, so to kind of have that opportunity and pull it off, it feels pretty special.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Springer’s 59 is the second on the PGA Tour in less than two weeks, after Cam Young also achieved the rare feat at the Travelers Championship, which was the first on tour since 2020.
There have been only 14 sub-60 rounds in tour history, with Jim Furyk doing it twice, including the PGA Tour record of 58 at the 2016 Travellers Championship.
Scottie Scheffler, Kevin Chappell, Brandt Snedeker, Adam Hadwin, Justin Thomas, Stuart Appleby, Paul Goydos, David Duval, Chip Beck and Al Geiberger are the others in the exclusive club.
Springer, who is yet to win on the PGA Tour, claimed his second top-10 finish of the season at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week, breaking a run of six straight missed cuts.
The 27-year-old said he is going to treat his second round tomorrow just like any other day.
“Tomorrow is a new day. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Just try and do the exact same thing I do pretty much every day and go through the same routine, same process, and go from there.”