Jake Knapp fires 59 in opening round at Cognizant Classic

Jake Knapp recorded the 15th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history with a 12-under-par 59 in the first round of the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on Thursday.

Knapp, 30, had a chance to tie the lowest round in tour history, but his eagle putt from just inside 19 feet on the 18th hole slid just right of the cup. He then tapped in for birdie to complete his bogey-free round.

The winner of last year's Mexico Open as a tour rookie, Knapp took advantage of ideal scoring conditions on the Champion course. He birdied his first five holes and had two other stretches of three consecutive birdies.

Knapp arrived at the 18th hole needing eagle to match Jim Furyk's PGA Tour record round of 58 at the Travelers Championship in 2016. He striped his tee shot 335 yards into the middle of the fairway and then put his approach shot to 18 feet, 8 inches.

He narrowly missed the eagle attempt, but easily converted the birdie to break the course record of 61 previously shared by Brian Harman (Round 2, 2012) and Matt Jones (Round 1, 2021).

No. 99 in the Official World Golf Ranking entering this week, Knapp rose as high as 45th during his rookie season in 2024 when he followed up his maiden win at the Mexico Open with a tie for fourth at the Cognizant Classic.

--Field Level Media