Michael Kim carded only the 16th sub-60 score in the history of the PGA Tour – but believes Scottie Scheffler can still dampen his day.
The American admitted he is thrilled to be ‘part of the history books’ after he shot a 12-under par 59 to sit atop the 3M Open leaderboard.
The 33-year-old moved three shots in front of US compatriot Ben Kohles after draining a 24-foot putt for birdie on the 18th hole.
Seoul-born Kim has now become the 15th golfer to reach 59 on the US tour, with his second-round score putting him joint-second for the lowest 18-hole scores in PGA Tour history.
However, it is just one shot shy of Jim Furyk’s tour-record 58 at the 2016 Travelers Championship.
Michael Kim reacts after shooting 59
Kim, whose one and only PGA Tour victory came at the 2018 John Deere Classic, said: “I putted awesome.
“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.”
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Kim, whose previous low round on the PGA Tour came at the 2023 Wyndham Championship, believes he will have to finish ahead of Scottie Scheffler if he is to claim victory this weekend.
He added: “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, and hopefully I can shoot a couple good ones for the next couple days.“
Scheffler was eight shots adrift of Kim when he teed off for his second round at 12:44pm local time.
And the world number one looks to keep climbing after a front-nine 32 (-3) to move himself five shots off the top spot in the leaderboard.
