Perfect round

In golf, a perfect round is a round of eighteen holes where all holes were played on average at one under par (average of birdie on every hole) resulting in a score of 55 on a par 73 course, 54 on a par 72 course, 53 on a par 71 course, and 52 on a par 70 course. The term 'perfect round' is used for a 54 as the lowest score generally accepted as being in the realm of possibility among professional golfers on a par 72 course. This has remained the standard and has never been achieved by a professional golfer in a professional event.

Lowest scores overall

The lowest officially recorded score is 55 by Rhein Gibson (12 birdies and 2 eagles on a par 71) and this score is recognized by the Guinness World Records.^[1] Four other rounds of 55 are documented, but these are commonly discounted due to the quality of the course or the nature of the round (e.g., a non-competitive round).^[2]

Lowest scores in professional golf

In official golf tournaments on major tours:

Player	Score	To par	Rnd	Finish	Year	Tour	Tournament	Ref
Ryo Ishikawa	58	−12	4/4	1	2010	Japan Golf Tour	The Crowns	[3]
Stephan Jäger	58	−12	1/4	1	2016	Web.com Tour	Ellie Mae Classic	[4]
Jim Furyk	58	−12	4/4	T5	2016	PGA Tour	Travelers Championship	[5]
Al Geiberger	59	−13	2/4	1	1977	PGA Tour	Danny Thomas Memphis Classic	[6][7]
Chip Beck	59	−13	3/5	T3	1991	PGA Tour	Las Vegas Invitational	[6][8]
Notah Begay III	59	−13	2/4	T6	1998	Nike Tour	Dominion Open	[6][9]
Doug Dunakey	59	−11	2/4	T2	1998	Nike Tour	Miami Valley Open	[6][10]
David Duval	59	−13	5/5	1	1999	PGA Tour	Bob Hope Chrysler Classic	[6][11]
Annika Sörenstam	59	−13	2/4	1	2001	LPGA Tour	Standard Register PING	[12]
Masahiro Kuramoto	59	−12	1/4	1	2003	Japan Golf Tour	Acom International	[3][13]
Jason Gore	59	−12	2/4	1	2005	Nationwide Tour	Cox Classic	[14]
Adrien Mörk	59	−12	2/4	1	2006	Challenge Tour	Tikida Hotels Agadir Moroccan Classic	[15]
Paul Goydos	59	−12	1/4	2	2010	PGA Tour	John Deere Classic	[16]
Stuart Appleby	59	−11	4/4	1	2010	PGA Tour	Greenbrier Classic	[17]
Will Wilcox	59	−12	4/4	T3	2013	Web.com Tour	Utah Championship	[18]
Russell Knox	59	−12	2/4	T12	2013	Web.com Tour	Albertsons Boise Open	[19]
Jim Furyk	59	−12	2/4	3	2013	PGA Tour	BMW Championship	[20]
Kevin Sutherland	59	−13	2/3	T7	2014	Champions Tour	Dick's Sporting Goods Open	[21]
Nicolo Ravano	59	−12	2/3	2	2016	Challenge Tour	Fred Olsen Challenge de España	[22]
Justin Thomas	59	−11	1/4	1	2017	PGA Tour	Sony Open in Hawaii	[23]
Adam Hadwin	59	−13	3/4	2	2017	PGA Tour	CareerBuilder Challenge	[24]
Sam Saunders	59	−12	1/4	T2	2017	Web.com Tour (Finals)	Web.com Tour Championship	[25]
Brandt Snedeker	59	−11	1/4	1	2018	PGA Tour	Wyndham Championship	[26]
Oliver Fisher	59	−12	2/4	T7	2018	European Tour	Portugal Masters	[27]

In unofficial tournaments or on minor tours:

Player	Score	To par	Rnd	Finish	Year	Tour	Tournament	Ref
Shigeki Maruyama	58	−13	1/2		2000	PGA Tour	U.S. Open qualifying round	[28]
Jason Bohn	58	−13	4/4	1	2001	Canadian Tour	Bayer Championship	[29]
John Hahn	58	−12	4/6	T50	2014	European Tour	qualifying school tournament	[30]
Gary Player	59	−10	2/4	1	1974		Brazil Open	[31]
David Gossett	59	−13	4/6	T68	2000	PGA Tour	qualifying school tournament	[6][32]
Phil Mickelson	59	−13	2/2	1	2004	PGA Tour	PGA Grand Slam of Golf	[33]
Martin Kaymer	59	−13	2/3	1	2006	EPD Tour	Habsberg Classic	[34]
Harrison Frazar	59	−13	4/6	1	2008	PGA Tour	qualifying school tournament	[35]
Will McCurdy	59	−13	2/3		2015	SwingThought.com Tour	Callaway Gardens 3 Day	[36]
Robin Kind	59	−13	2/3	1	2015	Pro Golf Tour	Sparkassen Open	[37]
James Love	59	−12	1/4		2016	Web.com Tour	qualifying school tournament	[38]
Woody Austin	59	−12	1/3	1	2017	PGA Tour Champions	Diamond Resorts Invitational	[39]
Sutijet Kooratanapisan	59	−11	4/4	3	2017	Asian Development Tour	Singha Phuket Open	[40]
Hinrich Arkenau	59	−13	1/3	1	2017	Pro Golf Tour	Sparkassen Open	[41]
Drew Nesbitt	59	−12	2/4	T49	2018	PGA Tour Latinoamérica	JHSF Brazil Open	[42]

Notes:

• Rnd is the round in which the score was shot, i.e. 2/4 means the round was shot in the second of four rounds.
• Finish is the final tournament finish of the player

Comments and quotes about achieving the perfect round

Annika Sörenstam has commented on many occasions about her desire to shoot the perfect round saying,

"I believe I can hit 18 greens, hit every fairway, you know—Vision 54, which means you birdie every hole, that's in the back of my mind. I want to putt better, chip better. That day when I hit 18 greens and one putt, I'll know I'm a complete golfer. Will that ever happen? I'm not sure, but it's possible. The 54 vision is always in the back of my mind."

In another interview she said,

"How do you shoot a 54? Hit one fairway. Hit one green. Make one putt. Do that 18 times and you have achieved golf perfection."

She even has a knitted blue and yellow head cover in her bag with the number 54 on it.

Cecilia Ekelundh, of the Ladies European Tour keeps the perfect round on her mind by drawing a 54 on the ball she plays in competition. "There is no reason why you can't birdie every hole," Ekelundh said. "I got the idea when Swedish speed skater Tomas Gustafson came and spoke at one of our national team days. He said he wrote his ultimate lap time on his shoe so that every time he put his shoes on he visualised making that time. Now every time I pick up a ball I have that vision."^[43]

There is an emerging philosophy among top rated golf schools popularized by Pia Nilsson's Vision 54 that concentrates on achieving the perfect round, the basic ideology being that striving for perfection results in better scores even if the goal is not met.^[44]

References