Estancia alumnus Jake Knapp cards 59 at Cognizant Classic

Jake Knapp shot a 12-under-par round of 59 on Thursday in the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., producing just the 15th sub-60 round in a PGA Tour event in history.

A 2012 graduate of Estancia High who went on to play at UCLA, Knapp sunk a dozen birdies in the bogey-free effort. He finished one off the tour record of 58, accomplished by Jim Furyk in the final round of the Travelers Championship in 2016.

There have been 14 players to shoot a sub-60 round. Furyk is the only one to have done it twice, having also carded a 59 at the BMW Championship in 2013.

Knapp drew an early tee time, and he got off to a roaring start with birdies on each of his first five holes, including a chip-in from the fairway on No. 2.

The round reached a crescendo when he sunk a 31-foot, 2-inch putt on the par-three No. 15 — starting the shot left of the hole and breaking to the right.

“I feel like I honestly had it going, like, well before then,” Knapp told reporters after the round. “I didn’t really make many putts today, if I’m being honest. I just hit it really close. I made a lot of, kind of, 8- to 12-footers but nothing of great length, and to shoot a score like that, usually you do.

“Yeah, on [No.] 15 I got a really good read off Tom [Hoge]. He was hitting from 8 feet left of me, similar length. I got to watch his go in dead center, so it gave me somewhat of an idea of the pace and all that. Halfway, I knew it was on a pretty good line. It didn’t have a ton of movement, but yeah, just kind of cozied right in there.”

Knapp, whose lone win on tour came at the Mexico Open last February, also strung together two runs of three consecutive birdies — from Nos. 9-11 and from Nos. 13-15. He tapped in for birdie on the final hole after getting a look at the tour record with an 18-foot, 8-inch eagle putt that pulled up short of the hole. He also lamented a 14-foot putt that lipped out and left him with par at No. 17.

“I was just trying to make birdie because I hit a good shot,” said Knapp, who is No. 99 in the World Golf Rankings. “I thought about the number and you think about 59, but it’s like I’ll still think tonight about how it should have been 58 or 57 or 56. Fifty-nine is great, but you always could technically do better, but it could always be worse.”

Knapp set the course record at PGA National, which had previously been established at 61 — by Brian Harman in 2012 and by Matt Jones in 2021.

The course surrendered numerous low rounds on Thursday, with negligible wind leading to favorable conditions. Still, Knapp’s historic round set him four strokes ahead of Daniel Berger, Russell Henley and Sami Valimaki — each in the clubhouse at 8 under par — late into the afternoon on Thursday.

Bob Knapp, Jake’s father, said the family is always tuned in when his son is competing. They began tracking the round online, and as Jake ascended the leaderboard, Bob said “they got a camera on him,” and they were able to see nearly every shot.

“Unless I’m having an emergency appendectomy or open-heart surgery, we’re following,” Bob said when reached for comment on Thursday. “... We were definitely watching. Obviously, we’re at home here in Costa Mesa, not in Florida, but if I had ruby slippers, I’d be clicking them and trying to be there right now. We’re just very happy for him. It’s a great day.”