Only 15 players have ever broken 60 in an official tournament. Yet, the man who started it all, Al Geiberger, remains the one and only ‘Mr. 59.’ And for good reason! His second round at the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic on Friday, June 10, 1977, is hailed as the greatest round of golf ever played. But when the day began, there was little indication that it would go down in history.

Greg Johans, then a 22-year-old sports anchor at Memphis NBC affiliate WMC-TV, had arrived at the course early that morning. As the hours passed, however, the sweltering heat turned the course into an “oven,” as he later recalled. With other networks rarely covering the early rounds, Johans was the only media representative on-site. Eventually, the oppressive heat got the better of him, and he decided to leave.

On his way out, Johans and his cameraman stopped at the clubhouse to enjoy some air conditioning. Slumped in a chair, he glanced at the scoreboard and noticed a blur of red numbers beside Geiberger’s name. Thinking it was too good to be true, he figured, “Someone’s messing with the scoreboard.” But when he realized the numbers were no mistake, he and his cameraman rushed back onto the course.

By the time Johans arrived, only three holes stood between Geiberger and history. Having shot a six-under-par 30 on the back nine, Geiberger was now approaching the final stretch of his round: holes 7, 8, and 9. By then, Johans recalled, spectators were beginning to grasp what they were witnessing. One fan began chanting the number on everyone’s mind: 59. Then another joined in. And another. Suddenly, the entire gallery had one word on their lips. 

Johans worried that the chants might jinx Geiberger’s chances, but the excitement was impossible to contain. After a blistering run of birdies and an eagle, Geiberger reached the par-5 seventh needing two more birdies over his final three holes to become the first player on the PGA Tour to shoot 59. He wasted no time making his move. A drive, a 3-wood, and a pitch left Geiberger with a nine-foot birdie putt. 

He confidently rolled it in to reach 12-under par. Then came the eighth, where he faced a 20-foot putt but settled for par after two strokes. With just one hole remaining, he needed a birdie to make history. The ninth was a dogleg left, with a bunker threatening the drive. Geiberger took aim and carried the trap, leaving himself 124 yards from the green. He opted for a soft 9-iron, landing the ball about eight feet from the cup.

As the crowd fell silent, his playing partners, Dave Stockton and Jerry McGee, stepped aside. All that stood between Al Geiberger and immortality was an uphill, left-to-right putt. He struck it firmly and watched as the ball broke toward the hole before dropping in. The scoreboard read 59. In that moment, Geiberger became the first player in PGA Tour history to record a sub-60 round. 

“I feel like I was actually there. I have heard it so many times I can recite it from top to bottom,” his youngest son recalled years later. “… I’ve heard that story on average at least probably a hundred times a year.”

“I have heard the short version, the long version,” his oldest son said. “I hear something different every time.”

“My dad’s quite the talker, so I’ve heard it so many times with him, but you never can hear it too much,” said his daughter. 

But Geiberger’s historic achievement came with a cruel twist: he never got to watch the moment he made golf history. Although Johans had captured the remarkable round on camera, a fire at the TV station destroyed the footage, seemingly erasing the only visual record of the milestone. But in 2013, Johans found the 3/4-inch videotape labeled “Geiberger-59” while cleaning his attic. 

It took 35 years, but Al Geiberger finally got to watch the historic round that made him immortal in golf. And while his 59 remained a landmark achievement, the feat has continued to be repeated, with the latest sub-60 round in an official tournament coming just this year.

Michael Kim recorded the latest 59 

33-year-old Michael Kim recorded the latest 59 in PGA Tour history during the second round of the 2026 3M Open in July, becoming the 15th player to achieve the feat and producing the 16th sub-60 round on Tour. Kim’s remarkable round featured a flurry of birdies, including five consecutive gains from holes 3 through 7. 

He added two more in a row on Nos. 9 and 10, another on the 12th, and consecutive birdies on 15 and 16. Standing at 11 under through 17 holes, he needed one final birdie to reach the magical number. On the par-5 18th, Kim played conservatively, laying up before hitting his approach to the green. His wedge left him with a 24-foot birdie putt, which he confidently rolled into the cup to complete his historic round.

While many will continue to achieve the feat in the coming years, Al Geiberger will remain the one and only ‘Mr. 59.’