Bryson DeChambeau narrowly misses historic 59 at BMW Championship

Bryson DeChambeau missed a birdie from 6 feet, 3 inches on the 18th hole that would have made him the 12th player to break 60 and given him the 13th sub-60 round in PGA TOUR history.

After tapping in his eagle putt from just inside three feet at the par-5 16th hole, DeChambeau spun back a wedge to close range on 18 to leave himself a putt at history. Alas, he aimed too far left, and the ball never had a chance of going in.

“I hit it on the line, just misread it. We played it two and a half, three inches out, and it clearly didn't break that much, but I had good speed on it and I'll go look afterwards and see if I pulled it or not and work on ways to mitigate that,” DeChambeau said post round before heading directly to the practice putting green.

DeChambeau also eagled the par-5 fourth hole after his 273-yard second shot wound up just over 11 feet from the pin. He opened with a 7-under 29 on the front side and added birdies on 11, 12 and 14 before his incredible second eagle that came via an iron shot from the right rough.

“It was one of the better ones of my career. We judged the flier lie perfectly,” DeChambeau said of his approach shot. “I hit an 8-iron from 250, maybe it was more than that, I don't know, but it was downwind, and we just wanted to get to that back little knob where maybe it could feed off and where if it goes over, I'm still OK.

“It fed off I think perfectly. Again, a little bit of luck. You have to have a little bit to luck to be playing that well out there.”

It was the second round of 60 in the last two weeks, as Cameron Smith also flirted with 59 at THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National last week.

Scottie Scheffler shot the last 59 on TOUR at THE NORTHERN TRUST at TPC Boston last year.

DeChambeau beat his previous career low, a 62 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, by two shots. He came into the week 9th in the FedExCup, first in driving distance. At 16 under par, he took a one-shot lead over Patrick Cantlay (63) and Jon Rahm, who has a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to join the lead when play resumes Saturday morning.

Playing partner Jordan Spieth believed it must have been similar to what Tiger Woods was doing to his opponents in the early stages of his career when he was by far the longest player on TOUR.

“I played with Bryson the first two rounds when he won at Bay Hill, and when he's driving it that straight, it's got to be what it was like in the early 2000s with Tiger just hitting it the furthest and the straightest,” Spieth, who also played with Justin Thomas when he shot 59 in Hawaii, said.

“It's a little easier from there, but you've still got to get it in the hole, and he just drove the ball well, made a few longer putts today, and had it going.”

The Californian also missed a birdie try from 15-feet on the 17th hole in his chase for history.

“It was an awesome opportunity. I had a couple birdie opportunities at 17 and 18, and it didn't happen but I’m still really proud of the way I handled myself, and it's great to feel some pressure again which is awesome,” DeChambeau added.

“A lot of putts went in. A lot of things went right. We got a lot of great numbers out of the rough today, and I played my butt off and never thought too much about anything until the last few holes.

“I striped a 9-iron on 17, striped a drive, striped a wedge on 18 and just wasn't able to clutch those putts up. But I stroked it pretty well today and I’m going to go work on that a little bit and make sure I'm hitting it down my lines for this weekend, so I have myself a chance to win.”