Justin Thomas Becomes Youngest Man To Shoot 59

The 23-year-old became just the seventh man to shoot sub-60 on the PGA Tour

Justin Thomas becomes youngest man to shoot 59
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The 23-year-old eagled his final hole to become just the seventh person and the youngest ever to shoot a sub-60 score on the PGA Tour

Justin Thomas Becomes Youngest Man To Shoot 59

World number 12 Justin Thomas eagled his final hole to shoot the PGA Tour's seventh 59 yesterday in the opening round of the Sony Open.

The 23-year-old, who won the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii just four days prior, eagled the ninth hole to shoot the magic number after opening with a pitch-in eagle on the 10th.

It means he is the youngest man in PGA Tour history to shoot the score.

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"It was obviously a fun day," said Thomas. "I just kind of had it rolling out there. All my birdies were easy, it wasn't like I made any long putts or anything."

Justin Thomas becomes youngest man to shoot 59

Thomas' round included eight birdies, two eagles and a solitary bogey

"I knew if I hit a good drive on nine I was going to have a seven or eight-iron in. I missed carrying the bunker by six inches!

"I wasn't too nervous over the putt, I was just focused on making it. I got more excited from seeing them [playing partners Jordan Spieth and Daniel Berger] get excited than I did my putt going in.

"But it's not like winning the tournament you know. It's an unbelievable round, but you have three days left still. So I didn't really know how to react."

Thomas played with Jordan Spieth and Daniel Berger, two of his closest friends on the PGA Tour.

Justin Thomas becomes youngest man to shoot 59

Thomas and Spieth have been playing golf together since they were children

“The coolest part for me was how excited they were for me on 18," Thomas said. "To do that with two of your best friends out here and two of your friends that you played with for so long … I’ll have that on them for now.

“I didn’t really know how to react. I never had a putt on the last hole on a Thursday mean so much. So that was a little odd, and I don’t even know what I did,” he added. “I just know I looked at them, and they were going nuts and I think I went nuts.”

Jordan Spieth, who marked Thomas' card, was spotted fishing in a canoe with close friend Smylie Kaufman before the pair capsized under a big wave, see the video below:

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Related: Spieth, Fowler, Thomas and Kaufman go wild in the Bahamas

The last time a sub-60 score was recorded on the PGA Tour was in August at the Travelers Championship where new US Ryder Cup Captain Jim Furyk shot 58, the PGA Tour's lowest-ever score.

The first 59 on the PGA Tour was shot by Al Geiberger in 1977 and the second one didn't come until 14 year later in 1991 from Chip Beck at the Las Vegas Invitational.

Since then, David Duval (1999), Paul Goydos (2010), Stuart Appleby (2010), Jim Furyk (2013 and 2016) and Justin Thomas (2017) are the only other men to shoot below 60 on the PGA Tour.

Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!


Elliott is currently playing:


Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV