The answer: Michael Kim shot a bogey-free 12-under 59 in Friday's second round of the 3M Open by making 12 birdies, using only 21 putts and closing with four consecutive birdies. His 24-foot putt on No. 18 made him the first PGA TOUR player under 60 this season, set a TPC Twin Cities course record and moved him to 14 under with a three-shot lead entering the weekend.
Four closing birdies turned a great round into history
Kim began Friday seven shots behind first-round leader Ben Kohles after an opening 69. He then made five consecutive birdies from Nos. 3 through 7, added another at the ninth and turned in 29. Birdies at Nos. 10 and 12 pushed the round deeper, but 59 still required a perfect finish: four birdies over the final four holes.
The last two were the defining moments. Kim made a 17-foot putt at the par-3 17th, then reached the par-5 18th needing one more birdie. His approach finished 24 feet away. The putt arrived with enough pace to remove any doubt about intent, caught the cup and produced an immediate fist pump. A 60 would have been extraordinary; Kim chose the line and speed that gave 59 a chance.
Kim explained the round himself
View Michael Kim’s complete 59 breakdown on X
The 59 came from two different scoring engines
The front-nine surge was built on repeated approach chances. During the five-birdie run beginning at No. 3, the longest conversion was 13 feet. Kim described using a low-cut tee shot he had practiced after struggling with the same wind Thursday. That adjustment is the useful part of the story: the historic card did not begin with vague confidence. It began with a specific shot added for a specific problem.
The finish required the putter to take over. Golf Channel's shot-by-shot account lists Kim's final four birdie putts at roughly 12, 14, 17 and 24 feet. He needed only 21 putts in the round. That combination—controlled approach play early and increasingly difficult conversions late—explains why the score accelerated rather than simply staying low.
What 59 means—and what it does not
The PGA TOUR identifies Kim's card as the 16th round of 59 or lower in its history. Jim Furyk's 58 at the 2016 Travelers Championship remains the record, while Kim is the first player to break 60 at TPC Twin Cities. The course record matters because the event had already produced extremely low scoring, including multiple rounds of 60 in 2025.
But a historic Friday does not settle a Sunday result. Golf Channel notes that the previous five players to break 60 on TOUR did not win that week; Brandt Snedeker in 2018 was the most recent player to pair a sub-60 round with victory. That history does not predict Kim's outcome. It does show why separating “best round” from “best tournament” is essential.
The weekend problem begins at zero
Kim enters the third round at 14 under, three ahead of Kohles, Emiliano Grillo and Chandler Phillips. Jackson Koivun and Troy Merritt are another shot back. Scottie Scheffler sits seven behind, a large gap but not an impossible one on a course that has already surrendered a 59 and a 62 in two days.
The mental challenge is unusual. Kim cannot reasonably expect Saturday to feel like Friday, and comparing every ordinary par to a record round would create frustration immediately. He said after signing the card that he needed to avoid becoming disappointed if the next round began slowly. That is not modesty; it is the practical reset required to protect a lead.
Analysis: The best weekend signal will not be another birdie streak. It will be Kim's response to the first missed green, three-putt threat or stretch of routine pars. If he can make neutral golf feel acceptable after the most electric round of his career, the 59 becomes an advantage. If he spends Saturday chasing Friday's sensation, the field has an opening.
The lesson is commitment, not chasing a magic number
Recreational golfers should not copy the target score. They can copy the process that created Kim's chances. He diagnosed a wind pattern, built a lower tee shot for it and trusted that adjustment under tournament pressure. When the opportunity became real, he also knew exactly what the final holes required.
That does not mean forcing every birdie putt past the hole. It means matching commitment to context. Kim knew that 60 and 61 would feel similar compared with the rare chance at 59, so the final putt deserved an assertive roll. Most rounds call for safer speed. The useful skill is recognizing when the reward justifies changing the risk.
A permanent score with half a tournament left
Nothing that happens this weekend can remove Kim's 59 from the record book. Twelve birdies, no bogeys and a 24-foot finish made Friday permanent. What remains unresolved is whether the round becomes the centerpiece of a victory or a brilliant performance inside someone else's week. Kim has already handled the pressure of reaching 59. Now he has to handle the quieter pressure of starting over with the lead.