Sublime Snedeker joins elite club with historic round

By Phil Casey and Carl Field

America’s Brandt Snedeker carded the 10th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history with an opening 59 in the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina yesterday.

Snedeker recovered from a bogey on the 10th, his opening hole, to card 10 birdies and an eagle at Sedgefield Country Club and set the early clubhouse target on 11 under par.

The 37-year-old carded four birdies in a row from the 13th to reach the turn in 32 and picked up four more shots in the first five holes on the front nine before holing his second shot to the sixth for an eagle two.

Snedeker’s approach from 176 yards flew straight into the cup with such force that it damaged the hole and forced tournament officials to cut a new hole a foot away, but it had no effect on the world number 88’s concentration.

A birdie on the seventh was followed by a miss from six feet on the next, but Snedeker then holed from 20 feet on the ninth to break the magical 60 barrier with an incredible inward half of 27.

I was pretty upset [after the eighth] because I knew you’re not going to have many good looks to shoot 59,” Snedeker said.

“I kept telling myself after I birdied number seven, I’ve shot 60 out here before in China one year; you do this to shoot 59 so quit worrying about it and hit two fairways, give yourself two good looks [at birdie] and make one of the putts.

“Unfortunately I left myself one of the hardest four-footers you can have, a downhill right-to-lefter and I didn’t hit a great putt.

I kept telling myself on nine, I don’t care if you four-putt, three-putt, but do not leave this putt short and luckily it held in there and went right in the middle. What a cool day.

“I just had a feeling I was going to do it, didn’t want to try to shy away from it at all. Last time I shot 60 I had a chance on the last two holes and kind of shied away from it and today I wasn’t going to do that.”

Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk holds the record for the lowest score on the PGA Tour with a 58 in the Travelers Championship in 2016. Furyk also shot 59 in the BMW Championship in 2013.

Meanwhile, four Irishmen remain in contention for the Boys Amateur Championship heading into the second round of match play at Royal Portrush.

Kilkenny star Mark Power, second in stroke play qualifying, faces Simone Armando Colozza of Italy for a place in the last 16 this morning after getting the better of Alex Maguire of Laytown & Bettystown 2&1 in an all-Irish round of 64 encounter yesterday.

Power started well with two birdies and an eagle to be three up after five holes.

Maguire looked to stage a comeback with birdies on the 12th and 14th but, as the dark clouds rolled in and the heavens opened, Power kept his cool and secured the win at the 17th.

Joining him in the last 32 today is Mullingar’s Adam Smith, who goes up against another Italian in Filippo Celli after seeing off David Kitt (Athenry) in dramatic fashion on the 19th in another all-home showdown.

Dundalk’s Eoin Murphy defeated Switzerland’s Ronan Kleu on the last and his reward is a second round clash with Jerry Ji of the Netherlands.

Joshua Robinson’s match with Charles Larcelet of France went all the way to the 20th with the Lisburn player squeezing through. He now goes up against Spaniard Javier Barcos Garbayo.

However yesterday marked the end of the road for Tom McKibbin (Holywood) and Max Kennedy (Royal Dublin) after they went down against Gustav Andersson and Petr Hruby respectively in the first round.

The remaining 32 players will be whittled down to eight by this evening.

Meanwhile over at Ardglass there was disappointment as all eight Irish qualifiers bowed out of the Girls Amateur Championship yesterday.

Lurgan’s Annabel Wilson and Beth Coulter of Kirkistown Castle made it through to the second round where they fell to Hannah Darling and Charlotte Heath respectively.

Aine Donegan, Anna Foster, Leah Temple Lang, Sara Byrne, Valerie Clancy and Lauren Walsh – at the hands of Coulter – all went out in the first round.