'Happy To Be In The History Books But Now I Gotta Get Ready To Try And Win The Tournament' - Michael Kim Breaks Down Historic 59 At 3M Open

Although 59s are becoming more and more regular on the professional circuits, it's still special when one occurs...

Just ask Michael Kim who, at the 3M Open on Friday, produced a 12-under round that consisted of 12 birdies and six pars to take the outright lead at the PGA Tour event.

Needing just 21 putts at TPC Twin Cities, the American ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting, with a 25-footer at the last the difference between a 59 and a 60.

An avid user of X/Twitter, Kim often details tournaments when he competes, making this incredibly detailed thread one to read as he moved into the 36-hole lead.

Writing on social media, Kim stated: "59 breakdown!! Something I never would have thought I’d do. What a day. Let’s get into it..."

From there, the PGA Tour winner then adds: "Front nine: Hole 3 was a great way to start. That’s not the most comfortable tee shot with wind R to L and bunkers left.

"I worked on a low cut tee shot to hit after round 1 because I struggled with that wind on Thursday. I hit it perfect off the tee, and hit a nice PW to 12 ft. Even for pros it’s rare that a putt you hit does the EXACT thing that you imagine it doing when reading the putt. It was a nice confidence boost to roll that putt in.

"After the birdie on 7, I thought of my record of 7 (birdies) in a row back in college and hoped to do something similar but a poor iron shot on 8 ended that.

"Still made a really nice par putt. Hit that exact same low cut off the tee on 9, and able to knock in a nice 15ft for a birdie on one of the toughest holes here."

Six birdies on the front nine meant a 29, with the slightly easier back nine honing into view for Kim, who was looking to shoot the 16th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history.

"Back nine: 10, 7wd in the fairway and 9i from 134 into the wind. I took 15 yds off of my stock and it was exactly the swing I wanted to make.," he wrote.

"I ended up hitting a lot of shots 15, 20 yds off my stock number today because of into the wind. After this birdie, I checked the par just to see… 15 I knew I had to birdie in to shoot 59.

"My original goal was to get to -10 and hope to have a chance at eagle on 18. I drew a decent lie from the rough, smooth PW to about 12 ft and rolled another in.

"Putter was feeling after this one. 16 after a really good tee shot, another one of those 20 yds off stock number with my 9i. It was a tricky putt with quite a bit of left to right but rolled that in perfect."

Needing to make back-to-birdies on the 17th and 18th for the 59, Kim's 6-iron found the green at the par 3, with the 17-footer catching the hole and dropping in.

All that stood between him and the 59 was a birdie at the last and, as Kim writes on X, "I was feeling pretty nervous on the tee. Wind left to right with water right.

"Not exactly my favorite tee shot in the world. Tee shot was a total bailout left knowing I only needed birdie and I could make birdie laying up.

"I drew a nice lie, hit a standard 8i into the fairway. I had 125 pin, down off the left to a front right pin. I knew I wanted to land it with some spin a little left to use the slope.

"Again with the wind off the left, I decided to hit a hard 56. I had a downhill lie and with how amped up I was, felt like I could get 115 out of it when I hit it 110 normally.

"I usually overdraw my shots when swinging hard but the lie and the wind pushed it a lot and landed it right of the pin. Was pretty disappointed with that wedge shot. Distance was good though to 24ft.

"The putt was up a little ridge and I read it to not have a ton of break. I ended up playing about a ball outside the hole.

"Last thought was just don’t leave it short. Get it to the hole. I gave it a good rip and easily got it there. As it was 3ft out, it was tracking and I was hoping I didn’t hit it too hard for it to lip out… and it went in!

"Unreal day. Happy to be in the history books but now I gotta get ready to try and win the tournament. Let’s get after it."

Becoming the first player to shoot a 59 on the PGA Tour since Jake Knapp at the Cognizant Classic in 2025, it's also the 15th 59 the circuit has seen, with Jim Furyk carding the only 58.

The first 59 in the 3M Open's history, Kim plans on remaining grounded following the magic number, as he hopes to replicate his Open De France victory in September of last year.

"I don't hit that many golf balls after rounds and if I do, it's probably because I played pretty poorly, but today I think I'm going to go out there, hit a few balls just to kind of wind down a little bit," he explained in his press conference following his round.

"Today was an awesome day, but still, I'm only halfway there so still need to kind of get focused up for the weekend."