Hayden Springer shoots 59 for eagle-birdie finish at John Deere

SILVIS, Illinois – Hayden Springer posted the 14th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history on Thursday, adding to the rapidly growing list with an eagle-birdie finish with a 12-under 59 at the John Deere Classic.

Springer shot 27 on the front nine at rain-affected TPC Deer Run and tried to fend off thoughts of 59 or better. He then made five consecutive pars and thought his chance was gone until he hit a 55-yard shot for eagle on the par-5 17th.

Golf’s magic number required birdie, his approach caught the slope and left him 12 feet short, and the putt was perfect the entire way.

“There are just words at a loss in terms of being able to do this,” Springer said. “I think it’s one of the rare things in golf, so to get that opportunity and accomplish it, it feels pretty special.”

The PGA Tour record is a score of 58 by Jim Furyk at the Travelers Championship in 2016. Furyk is also one of 13 players with 59.

Any score starting at 5 remains special, although it is not as rare as it used to be as players get better every year. Springer became the second player to break 60 in three weeks. Cameron Young also shot 59 at the Travelers Championship.

It was the eighth sub-60 round on the worldwide golf tour this year. Chile’s Cristóbal del Solar of 57 was the lowest score at the Korn Ferry Tour event in Colombia.

Springer sets record at TPC Deer Run. Paul Goydos shot 59 in the first round of the John Deere Classic in 2010. Goydos had only a one-shot lead that year – Steve Stricker shot 60 on the same day – and Stricker won.

Springer played the morning and took a four-shot lead over Harry Hall among the early starters. Overnight rain and virtually no wind made TPC Deer Run unsafe and players were allowed to pick up, clean, and place their golf balls in the short grass.

Still, Springer already had reason to believe it could be a special day. He holed a 12-foot eagle putt on the second hole and holed out from 60 feet for birdie on the next hole. He birdied the next three holes and then closed the next nine holes with birdie putts from 3 feet and 7 feet.

It was a birdie putt from 15 feet on the fringe that made him wonder how low he could go.

He said, “I was like: ‘Okay, I feel like I’m not missing today. I make pretty much every putt I see.’ “So maybe that putt going in was kind of the trigger for, ‘Okay, we might be able to go pretty low.'”

Springer had missed five consecutive cuts, putting him in danger of losing his card. He played a Korn Ferry Tour event during the week of the U.S. Open – he finished tied for 54th – and spent time with his longtime swing coach before recording a tie for 10th last week in Detroit.

If that was progress, it was a huge leap forward.

But then again, Springer already knows how to deal with the toughest times. Their newborn daughter Sage was diagnosed in 2021 with trisomy 18 – also known as Edwards syndrome – in which babies are born with three copies of chromosome 18 instead of two.

Such babies usually do not reach the age of 72 hours. Sage was 3 years old when she died on Nov. 13, just a month before Springer was to face Q-School. He had enough emotional stamina left to get his PGA Tour card, and now he’s in the record books with a sub-60 round.

“I don’t know if it gives me inner strength or not, but it definitely tests you and you have to find ways to work through it and move forward,” Springer said. “A lot of it for us is our faith, just leaning into Him and knowing that we are secure in Him.

“We’ve had some challenging things happen,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I also want to compete and I love doing it.”

Kevin Chappell was among those who died, aged 64. Conditions were so favorable for scoring that the Morning Wave had 12 players at 65 or lower. Jordan Spieth was not among them. He struggled for 69 and his first step on Friday will be to make the cut.

As for Springer, he became the fourth player on the PGA Tour to score a 59 in the opening round. Justin Thomas (2017 Sony Open) and Brandt Snedeker (2018 Windham Championship) won. The exception was Goydos in the John Deere Classic.