59 is under attack !!

In this great world of sports, there are records which despite the fact they've been broken are etched in our minds.... Roger Bannister and the 4 minute mile, Roger Maris and his 61 home runs, Bob Beamon and his 29'2" long jump in 1968, Joe Dimaggio and his 56 game hit streak, Denny McLain and his 30 wins, Maurice Richard's 50 goals in 50 games just to mention a few..

In pro golf Al Geiberger's magical 59, set the benchmark for the all-time low score, and it still stands today, but in my opinion not for much longer !

Two weeks ago at the Canadian Open I stood beside the 18th green and watched Carl Pettersson lip out for his 59, and there were a slew of 64's and lower at St Georges. The week before journeyman Paul Goydos shot 59 at the John Deere Classic and there were a slew of 64's and lower.

This weekend at the newly minted Greenbrier Classic the guys made Sam Snead blush, on the course where he was the pro for 29 years, the Old White Course, a par 72, turned into a 70 for the pros at 7150 yards. Both DA Points and JD Holmes had their runs at 59, before Stuart Appleby turned the trick on Sunday to become the 5th man in history in what was the most exclusive of clubs.. ( Geiberger, Chip Beck in '91 at Las Vegas, David Duval in '99 at the Hope, and Goydos the others. Both Goydos and Geiberger were allowed to lift clean and place..)

When Geiberger did it on June 10, 1977, in the second round of the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic at the Colonial Country Club in Memphis, Tennessee, remember he was playing with persimmon and steel shafts, and more important a ball that was like a rock compared to today's. Graphite, titanium, trampoline faced drivers with a sweet spot that's bigger than Geiberger's entire driver's head were not on the drawing boards yet.
Therefore we didn't have the problem of players simply outgrowing and overpowering courses, like they do now.

Gary Player told me 12 years ago that one day the pros would be standing on the tee, hitting the ball 400 yards, making many of the tour's courses obsolete unless the governing bodies did something to restrict the equipment they are using.

England Ross Fisher almost carded the European Tour's first 59,settling for 61on Friday eventually holding off Paddy Harrington to win the Irish Open in Killarny on Sunday. Remember McIlroy's brilliant 62 to win at Quail Hollow, Stricker shot 62 and 60 to win the John Deere, Cameron Beckman had a 61 at the Byron Nelson and let's not forget our own Graham DeLaet with his 62 at the Reno Tahoe earlier this year.

There have been 12 winners on the PGATour this year who are in their 20's, and none of them are called Ryo Ishikawa who shot 58 this year albeit not in a PGATour sanctioned event.

They say records are made to be broken, and it's only a matter of time for 59 !!

BryanAngus