Michael Kim delivered a historic performance at the 3M Open on Friday, posting a 12‑under‑par 59 – only the 16th sub‑60 round ever recorded on the PGA Tour. His flawless 18‑hole card propelled him to the top of the leaderboard and gave him a three‑stroke cushion after two rounds, leaving him firmly in control at TPC Twin Cities. Kim’s round was a masterclass in consistency and aggression. He opened with a birdie on the first hole and then proceeded to string together five straight birdies from holes three through seven, a stretch that put him well ahead of the field early in the round.
After a brief lull, he finished the back nine with a spectacular surge, carding four under for his final four holes, including a dramatic 24‑foot birdie putt on the 18th to seal the 59. The 33‑year‑old American’s putting was especially noteworthy. He sank eight putts from ten feet or farther, a statistic that underscores how hot his short game was that day.
When a player can consistently convert long‑range putts, the scorecard often reflects it, and Kim’s performance was a vivid illustration of that principle. Kim’s 59 not only gave him a three‑shot lead but also tied him for second‑best single‑round score in PGA Tour history, trailing only Jim Furyk’s legendary 58 at the 2016 Travelers Championship. The only other sub‑60 round recorded this season was a 60, achieved by five different players – Blades Brown, Wyndham Clark, Si Woo Kim, Andrew Putnam and Scottie Scheffler – making Kim’s achievement stand out even more.
The rest of the field was left scrambling. A trio of golfers – Ben Kohles, Chandler Phillips and Emiliano Grillo – shared second place after Kohles, who entered the day with a two‑stroke advantage, carded a 69 and fell into a tie with Phillips (65) and Grillo (67).
Nevertheless, the day belonged unequivocally to Kim, whose performance was described by many as "red‑hot" and "unbelievable." Kim’s own words captured his delight and humility. "I putted awesome," he said after the round.
"I feel that I got just about everything I could out of that round. Some shots I didn't feel supremely confident over, but that's golf. I was happy I got away with par on 13. But other parts of my game, like my putting, felt fantastic.
When you hit a putt and it does exactly what you kind of envisioned before you hit it, it's an awesome feeling. Felt like that all day out there." He also reflected on his previous best round, which came at the 2023 Wyndham Championship, and noted that while the 59 was "pretty cool" and a place in the record books, the real challenge now is maintaining composure over the remainder of the tournament.
"It will be important for me to not compare myself tomorrow to today's round, even if I get off to a poor start or just an OK start, to not be so disappointed that I'm not playing as well as I did today. There's a long way to go and that guy named Scottie Scheffler is probably going to throw up a good score today anyway.
Nowhere near done," he added. Speaking of Scheffler, the world‑number‑one found himself tied for 13th after a disappointing 70 on a course that was yielding low scores.
After a strong start that saw him at nine‑under, a wayward approach on the 14th landed in water, resulting in a double‑bogey six. A subsequent poor tee shot on the 17th added another bogey, and a tricky second shot from a deep rough on the 18th saw the ball skid 34 feet past the hole. "Just got a bad break, but that happens," Scheffler said, before salvaging a birdie on the final hole to finish on a positive note. He now faces the task of delivering a dominant weekend if he hopes to capture his first victory since the Desert Classic in January.
Kim’s victory in the first round also marks his second‑best finish on the PGA Tour, following his lone win at the 2018 John Deere Classic. The 59 adds a new chapter to his career and places him among an elite group of players capable of breaking the 60‑stroke barrier, a feat that remains exceedingly rare in professional golf. The tournament schedule for the 2026 PGA Tour continues to feature a mix of traditional venues and newer stops, with the 3M Open serving as a key early‑summer event. Fans can follow the action via Sky Sports Golf, which offers live coverage without a contract, as well as through various streaming platforms that provide accessible video players for those using Chrome browsers.
Looking ahead, Kim will need to balance the excitement of his historic round with the steady focus required to sustain a lead over the remaining days. Golf is a marathon, not a sprint, and the pressure of defending a three‑stroke advantage can be intense, especially when competitors like Scheffler, Grillo and Phillips are all within striking distance. Whether Kim can convert his remarkable 59 into a tournament victory remains to be seen, but his performance has already cemented his place in the conversation about the season's most compelling storylines.
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