Goydos ties PGA record with 59 at Deere Classic

Associated Press

SILVIS, Ill.

After four months of pretty lousy play on the PGA Tour, Paul Goydos managed to turn things around just a bit — he shot a 59 at the John Deere Classic.

Out of nowhere.

“Today was a nuclear bomb,” Goydos said. “I don’t know where it came from. If I knew that, I wouldn’t be able to touch it.”

Perhaps just as amazing, Goydos led by only one stroke.

Defending champion Steve Stricker shot a 60 — and just missed tying Goydos on the last hole.

Goydos has missed almost has many cuts as he’s made. He hasn’t had a top 40 finish since early May. He led the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February by a stroke with five holes to play, only to tumble out of contention with an embarrassing quadruple-bogey 9 on No. 14.

“I’ve been very good at playing poorly now for the last 10 tournaments or so,” Goydos said.

Goydos, with only two victories in his 18 years on the PGA Tour, became only the fourth player in tour history to shoot a 59.

Goydos, who hasn’t won on the tour since 2007, needed just 22 putts to dominate the par-71 TPC Deere Run course, which was softened by three days of intermittent rain. The wet conditions allowed for preferred lies, permitting golfers to lift, clean and place their ball on the fairway.

It was the first 59 on the tour since David Duval’s memorable final round helped him win the 1999 Bob Hope Classic.

Al Geiberger was the first to shoot 59, in the second round of the 1977 Memphis Classic at Colonial Country Club. Chip Beck shot his 59 in the third round of the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational at Sunrise Golf Course.

Goydos is the first to shoot 59 on a par 71. The others came on par 72s.

Goydos birdied every hole on the back nine except for No. 15, where he holed a 6-foot par putt to keep alive his hopes. He finished off with three birdies.

“I thought my game was getting better,” Goydos said. “Again, the quantum leap from where I thought it was getting better to where it went today, I can’t explain. But it was trending in the right direction.”