An expert golfer has fired a sub-60 spherical for the second time this calendar 12 months.
LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann first did so in February at Mayakoba through the circuit’s first occasion of the 12 months. Then, on Saturday, through the third spherical of the Worldwide Collection Macau, American John Catlin shot a 59 of his personal, setting an Asian Tour file.
“I’m just about speechless,” Catlin mentioned afterward to the South China Morning Publish.
“It hasn’t completely sunk in but.”
Catlin shot his 11-under 59 in dramatic trend, draining a 20-footer for eagle on the par-5 18th to succeed in golf’s holy quantity.
“The putt [on 18] was an enormous, left-to-right swinger,” Catlin mentioned of his eagle.
“I simply occurred to get the tempo and the road proper.”
Catlin now sits at 18-under via 54 holes, holding a two-shot lead over fellow American Jason Kokrak.
Seven of the 13 gamers inside 5 photographs of Catlin play on LIV Golf, together with Kokrak, Patrick Reed, Pat Perez, and Australian Lucas Herbert.
Catlin, in the meantime, doesn’t play on the LIV Golf circuit. He misplaced his DP World Tour card final 12 months and has performed in solely 4 occasions to this point in 2024. He withdrew from the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship on the Thai Tour, tied for third on the Malaysian Open on the Asian Tour, after which tied for fiftieth on the Magical Kenyan Open, a DP World Tour occasion.
He has had a tough couple of years, struggling on the course. His final skilled victory got here on the 2021 Austrian Golf Open on the DP World Tour.
“Simply every part I’ve been via during the last two years, to be right here, it’s fairly particular,” Catlin mentioned.
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It’s not as if Catlin is starved for expertise, both. The American received two marquee occasions on the DP World Tour in a three-week span in 2020: the Andalucía Masters and the Irish Open. In 2018, he received three occasions on the Asian Tour and earned the Asian Tour’s Participant of the 12 months award.
However this week, the College of New Mexico product wanted a particular invite to compete within the Worldwide Collection Macau.
And to this point, he has taken full benefit of the chance.
Catlin fired rounds of 67 and 66 to place himself in competition via 36 holes. He then opened his magical third spherical with an unbelievable 6-under 28 that featured six birdies.
Extra birdies on the eleventh and thirteenth adopted.
“I didn’t notice I shot 28 on the entrance 9, so the magic quantity wasn’t actually in my head till the seventeenth,” Catlin mentioned.
The seventeenth is a 238-yard par-3, and Catlin birdied that gap, too.
He arrived on the 18th at 9-under for the day, needing a 3 on the final to succeed in that elusive quantity.
“I figured, properly, three down the final,” Catlin mentioned about his mindset on the 18th tee.
“And I simply hit two lovely photographs in there.”
Certainly, he did.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying Via. Make sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.