Christiaan Bezuidenhout made three birdies in a row to finish his round on Thursday on five-under-par 66 in the first round of the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic on the Champion Course at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
He started his round on the 10th with a birdie, but he dropped a shot on the 12th, before birdieing the 18th to turn in one-under. He picked up another shot on the second, and then birdied seven, eight and nine on his way to a share of 16th.
Up front, Jake Knapp, the number 99 player in golf’s current world rankings joined the PGA Tour’s sub-60 club, shooting a bogey-free 59. “It’s just one of those days where everything was kind of clicking,” Knapp said.
Knapp finished one shot off the Tour scoring record of 58, set by Jim Furyk in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship. Knapp became the 14th player to shoot a sub-60 round; it has been done 15 times, with Furyk the one who has carded such a round twice.
“I thought I played well,” said Daniel Berger, who had a bogey-free round of eight-under 63, highlighted by a par on the par-five 10th after his tee shot was lost in a tree and he played a provisional. “But then someone shot 59.”
Berger shared second with Russell Henley and Finland’s Sami Valimaki. There were six players on seven-under-par in a share of fifth on a windless day on which the course was defenceless, drawing critical comment from some of the players, including Billy Horschel and Michael Kim.
Erik van Rooyen’s three-under-par was only good enough for a share of 48th and Thriston Lawrence had a one-under-par 70 and was down in a share of 97th.
