Jim Furyk shoots 1st round of 58 in PGA Tour history

Jim Furyk had already reached the hallowed number once. His 59 at the 2013 BMW Championship made him the sixth man ever in PGA Tour history to fire golf’s equivalent of a perfect game — and the most recent to reach the mark and break 60.

Today, the 46-year-old did one better. And he’ll have history all to himself.

Starting the day early and 16 shots behind leader Daniel Berger, Furyk turned in the lowest score in PGA Tour history — a 58 — on the par-70 TPC River Highlands course in the final round of the Travelers Championship. Teeing off almost six hour before the leaders at 8:41 this morning and well before the TV coverage window, Furyk’s blazing-hot opening nine alerted the golf world to possible history. An insane 8-under 27, followed up by three birdies to open the back nine on the 10th, 11th, and 12th put Furyk at 11-under through his first 12 holes of the round — only needing to par out to equal his 2013 scoring record of 59.

But a downhill 25-footer on the par-3 16th would give him his fourth ‘2’ on the day -- and get him to 12-under with two to play.

That gave him two holes to reach a number completely unfathomable to the golf world: 57. While no one had ever shot 58 on the PGA Tour or European Tour, it’s happened twice on smaller tours, including last week by Stephan Jaeger on the Web.com Tour. No player anywhere in the world on any major tour has ever fired 57.

After making it through the 17th with no damage, Furyk had a putt on the 18th to break the record by two — but it rolled on the high side of the cup. Three feet to clean up wasn’t a problem for the man that turned in a nearly-perfect statistical round — and it gave him golf’s best round ever.

It’s the first 58 in approximately 1.5 million rounds in PGA Tour history.

Still, despite history, it’s safe to say Furyk won’t take home the winner’s check at the Travelers this afternoon. Even with a final round 58, he’s still four shots behind leader Daniel Berger, who won’t even tee off until 2pm. But it might help him get the attention of Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III, who’d already been eyeing Furyk for a captain’s pick for the team.