Kevin Sutherland shoots first-ever 59 in Champions Tour history

Kevin Sutherland shoots the first-ever 59 in Champions Tour history

It may have been the greatest round in the history of golf. First of all, he did it on a course with a par of 72 - despite a bogey on 18. That means he was 14 under after 17. Almost halfway through the match he was not just under par, but under birdie! His first eight holes were seven birdies and an eagle. After 11 holes he was still "even birdie" with nine birds, a par and an eagle.

After all that insanity, he could do no better than a tie for seventh (Bernhard Langer won). Sutherland's three rounds were 71-59-74.

I am always shocked to see the stats on the pros these days. It's obvious that the new golf technology is making courses obsolete. In 1992 the average drive on the PGA tour traveled 260.4 yards, which was not much more than in 1968 (255). The comparable number is now 287.2 yards. The 1992 stats show that there were only two 300-yard drives in a PGA tour event, the longest being a 308-yard shot by Long John Daly. Daly, then 26 years old, led the tour that year, averaging 283.4. The ultimate shocker is that 56-year-old Jeff Sluman, who was probably the shortest hitter in 1992 when Daly was the longest, now drives the ball more than 280 yards, as far as Daly did back then.

NOTE:

There has been no increase in the average driving distance since 2003. The explosion in distance happened in the decade between 1993 and 2003. The big spikes occurred in 2001 (solid core Titleists and 300cc drivers came into vogue) and 2003 (even larger drivers). In the three years from 2000 to 2003 alone, the average drive spiked by more than 13 yards.