
James Colgan
February 27, 2025
Jake Knapp scored under 60 in PGA Tour history on Thursday on Cognizant Classic.
Getty Images
Daniel Berger competed in his own round in the Cognitive Classic Thursday morning.
In the annual event held at PGA Tour in Palm Beach, Berger has never played nine games better than he played in the 63 open matches of the Bear Trap, and there is good reason. This week’s tour usually brings one of the most annoying settings of the year. In such a course, Berger’s 63 qualifies as one of the best rounds of the year.
So you can imagine his surprise on Thursday afternoon when he learned that his 63-year-old wasn’t even qualified sky.
“I thought I played well… but then someone drove 59,” Berger said with a smile. “Obviously, the course is not the old bear trap we are used to.”
59 belongs to Jake Knapp, and his impression does not require any explanation. Knapp made birdies at 12 a.m. Thursday at 12 a.m., with the remaining six holes free of bogey. His round is just the 15th time in PGA Tour history to score below 60.
But Berger’s emotions – the course seems Different – Most areas were shared on Thursday. Competitor Michael Kim Embrace.
“The supervision of Big Rye, no wind can make this route much easier,” King said Thursday morning. “But I don’t think I’ll come back after I’m 65.”
One factor helps Thursday’s low score is the weather, the weather is completely breeze-free and comfortable warmth- perfect for shooting on the pins. But, several players say another factor is a dramatic rye, which helps tame the status of the course.
“The fairway has been supervised to change [the golf course] A lot, because it makes the fairway wider, which makes them wider and then around the green, which is much easier than dormant Bermuda. “You’re watching a round with ease, just on the change in grass type on the fairway. ”
By the Thai afternoon, Spieth was proven to be wrong. The average scoring level of cognitive is 67.85, almost two The first round of the match (69.55) was below the average score.
Why supervision? It’s hard to say. In places where winter golf is common, many courses supervise their native grass with rye to help maintain appearance and playability in cold weather. Appearance is important for courses like PGA Nations, which will be broadcast to the world during cognitive periods. Still, the course has survived on TV for many years, not enough dramatic to the point of how this week’s performance affects game conditions, which raises an important question: Why?
Defenders of the curriculum will point out that supervision has little impact on competition integrity. Every golfer on the course will play in the same golf course under roughly the same conditions, and each player has the same chance to score with Knapp’s 59 points. It’s true, it emphasizes the impression of Knapp’s rounds, but it doesn’t cut the root of the problem. The game has roots back to fifty years on the PGA Tour, and it is one of the toughest games for golfers. This week’s changes have hurt this tradition with little apparent gains.
“It’s a little disappointing,” Billy Horschel said of cognitive conditions. “Rough isn’t long enough. It’s not punishment enough when you miss it. It’s going to be the average of the lowest score in game history.”
The 2020s will be remembered as an era when professional golf has low ratings, especially on the PGA Tour, which briefly adopted the tagline “Live Live Live Par.” The slogan believes that fans will be attracted by the excitement of players, which allows players to challenge records with constant results, just as fans enjoy the boon of the NFL offense in the early 2020s. But the sport failed to recognize the basic truths of playing golf: curriculum and technology are not obstacles to interest, but Incentives. In other words, our significance to history is related to history. If we respect our history by copying competitive challenges, low scores can be watched. But if we ignore our history by changing competitive challenges, lower scores don’t create entertainment, they just move the goal posts.
The low scores learned in the golf world are just that. It is impressive and exciting in the context of courses, difficulty levels and competition. if Everyone Shooting under 30, that’s no one.
Thursday’s score was low at the Cognitive Classics, and in an unusual twist, no one was happy about it – not even the 60-year-old.
“Yes, you think there are about 59, but tonight I’ll still consider it should be 58 or 57 or 56,” Knapp said with a smile. “Technically, you can always do better.”
This week, this may not be an exaggeration.

James Colgan
Golf.comEdit
James Colgan is Golf news and writes stories for websites and magazines. He manages the media verticals of popular microphones, golf, and leverages his camera experience on the brand platform. Before joining golf, James graduated from Syracuse University, during which time he was a caddie scholarship recipient (and Astute looper) from Long Island, where he came from. He can be contacted at james.colgan@golf.com.
Source link