Brandt Snedeker stared history in the face and blinked once before finishing steely-eyed.
The 37-year-old Snedeker missed a six-foot birdie putt on his 17th hole before sinking a 20-footer for birdie from the fringe while closing on No. 9 at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., to cap an 11-under 59 and become the 10th player in PGA Tour history to break 60.
Sneds made his only bogey while starting on No. 10, reeled off four straight birdies through No. 16, holed out from 176 yards for eagle at No. 6 and before adding six more birdies while shooting 27 coming home.
That gave him a four-stroke lead over Ryan Moore and rookie John Oda after one round of the Wyndham Championship.
Snedeker finished one stroke short of Jim Furyk’s PGA Tour record of 58, set in the 2016 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Hartford, Conn.
“It felt like that last putt was to win a tournament,” said Snedeker, who has won eight times on the PGA Tour, but not since the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open. “You never know if you’re going to get the opportunity (to break 60) again, so I’m happy I was able to step up and do it. It’s an amazing feeling.
“But there are three days left in the tournament and it can be hard to follow up a great round. I realize there is a lot of golf left and other guys are going to be going low, so it’s going to be tough.
“So I’m going to enjoy this, it’s a cool feeing, but I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
Moore collected five birdies in seven holes on the front nine and Oda had four birdies on he back as each carded bogey-free 63s.
Abraham Ancer of Mexico overcame a double-bogey 6 on the 11th hole with eight birdies in a 64 and is tied for fourth with David Hearn if Canada, Brett Stegmaier, Ollie Schneiderjans, Jonathan Byrd, Martin Flores and D.A. Points.
Defending champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden totaled 68 and is tied for 44th in the final tournament of the regular season before the FedEx Cup playoffs start next week.
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