The heartbreaks have been piling up of late for Jim Furyk but the veteran American was all smiles after producing a stunning display of golf at Conway Farms Golf Club to become just the sixth player to shoot 59 on the US PGA Tour.
Furyk, who struggled to a one-over 72 on day one at the BMW Championship, tore apart the breezy Chicago course to join Al Geiberger (1977 Memphis Classic), Chip Beck (1991 Las Vegas Invitational), David Duval (1999 Bob Hope Classic), Paul Goydos (2010 John Deere Classic) and Australian Stuart Appleby (2010 Greenbrier Classic) in the 59 club.
He joined countryman Brandt Snedeker in the lead at the third of four playoff tournaments after the reigning FedEx Cup champion Snedeker shot a second round three-under 68 to put both men at 11-under.
Zach Johnson (70) sits third at eight-under par.
His 12-under round had even more added gravitas given the field average was 71.09 and the next best score of the day was a 65.
“It was a pretty exciting day,” Furyk said.
“Tonight a lot of it will set in, exactly what happened and what I accomplished.
“But I think it’ll probably take weeks and even months for me to kind of figure it out, maybe see where everything falls and how it rated in my career for accomplishments.”
Furyk won the 2003 US Open, one of 16 career wins in the US Tour and he also claimed the 2010 FedEx Cup in an impressive career body of work.
But of late, whenever a great chance to add to his resume arose, the 43-year-old has failed under the pressure.
Leading the 2012 US Open on the 16th tee on Sunday, he snap hooked his drive terribly into close trees, bogeyed, and couldn’t recover.
Just a few months later he led after the first three rounds of the World Golf Championships’ Bridgestone Invitational but made a double bogey on the final hole to hand Keegan Bradley victory.
He then bogeyed the final two holes of his Ryder Cup singles match against Sergio Garcia to lose 1-up, a critical late point helping the Europeans to one of the greatest comebacks of all time.
The 2013 PGA Championship presented him with another opportunity. He took the 54-hole lead into Sunday but coughed it up to Jason Dufner.
The final nail was being overlooked for the President’s Cup team a few weeks ago, despite being 12th on the points list, in favour of 20-year-old rookie Jordan Spieth.
It was supposed to be symbolic of a changing of the guard but this old dog still had some tricks up his sleeve.
He notched a brilliant 11 birdies and a hole out eagle from 115 yards to offset his lone bogey, making him the first in the 59 club to be there with a dropped shot on his card.
Needing a birdie on his final hole, the ninth after he started on the back nine, Furyk hit a precision wedge to three feet.
“I guess the moment kind of struck me the most when I hit the wedge shot in there close, and the crowd erupted and I started looking around and it just hit me how many people had come over to that side to see the finish and how excited the crowd was,” he said.
“It was kind of like winning a golf tournament to be honest with you.”
Jason Day pushed his way into the top 10 after a five-under 66 left him at five-under in a tie for ninth while Adam Scott plummeted down the leaderboard after a 73 left him at two-under for the tournament.
Matt Jones (70) joined Scott in a tie for 17th to keep his slim hopes of survival to next week alive while Marc Leishman (70) remained at two-over and a long way from survival in a tie for 45th.