Stuart Appleby Shoots Historic 59 to Win Greenbrier Classic

Shoot 59 in the final round of a PGA Tour event, and you deserve to win.

Stuart Appleby had just taken care of the first part but the latter was still a bit uncertain. The 39-year-old Australian with eight previous tour wins, but none since 2006, had polished off a nine-birdie, one-eagle, no-bogey finishing round Sunday at the Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., and still his day was not complete.

Jeff Overton, a talented climber in the PGA Tour ranks looking for his first career title, was still on the course. Overton began the day 18-under and three-shots in front of D.A. Points and seven strokes clear of Appleby.

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A few minutes earlier, when Appleby rolled in a right-to-left breaking 10-foot putt for birdie on the par-3 18th hole -- the fist pump beginning with about three feet to go -- Overton was still on the 16th hole, only one shot back.

"I knew what it was all about," Appleby said of his final putt. "I knew I had to make in for the tournament; I knew I had to make it to have a 59. I'm sitting there going, 'How many opportunities are you gonna get to do this?' But I still felt very relaxed. The cards had been laying out perfectly for me all day long. Why wasn't it gonna do one more? I just got a good look at it. Just bang, and it felt good.

"It is great to do that to win a tournament. To do that and cap off a low number was very unique. So a flood of emotions certainly came across me minutes later -- what I had done potentially, but what I still had to do. I had to step away, get back on the range, feel like the golfer again for potentially a playoff."

"You don't shoot a low number ... feeling a huge amount of indecision. I was just comfortable."
-- Stuart Appleby Thirty minutes later when the victory was finally his, Appleby was on the practice range, hitting balls to stay loose. A PGA Tour official approached with news: Overton had not been able to birdie the par-5 17th, and his 52-foot putt on the par-3 finishing hole to force a playoff had rolled inches wide.

"Official?" Appleby asked. "Wheew. I can wipe my brow."

And share a piece of golf history.

Appleby is the fifth PGA Tour player to reach the magic-number milestone -- but the second player to do so in three weeks. Paul Goydos shot 59 during the John Deere Classic last month, but was playing under "lift, clean and place'' conditions.

The other players to have equaled the record are Al Geiberger at the 1977 Memphis Classic, Chip Beck at the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational and David Duval at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic. Before Appleby, only Duval had done it in the final round. Only Duval and Geiberger had been able to use the record round to earn victories.

Appleby birdied the final three holes with putts of under 15 feet to earn the $1.08 million winner's check.

"You don't shoot a low number ... feeling a huge amount of indecision," Appleby said. "I was just comfortable."

Appleby won for the first time since the 2006 Houston Open. During his 358 previous rounds on PGA Tour he has not posted a score under 65. His previous career low was 62 in the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational.

But Sunday was his day. One day earlier he had been paired with Points as he flirted with 59 before settling for a 61. So he fully knew the potential.

"I'm thinking, 'Well, that's what I have to do today,' Appleby said. " That's where I have to be to win this tournament. I didn't think 59 had to be what needed to win the tournament. I did the math at the turn and saw 6-under. I thought, well, here I am at 6. What will I do now? Where's Jeff? I need to get another 6.

"I was only halfway home. I knew there was opportunities there to do that, but then that put me in the 50s. I thought, 'Well, that's pretty cool. Why don't we shoot for that too and see if the victory comes with it?' That was basically my mentality for the last two hours, last three hours of the day."

The 11-under final-round score put him at 22 under, one shot better than Overton. Although Overton closed with a none-to-shabby 67, Appleby's rally from seven shots back to begin the day is the biggest final-round comeback of the season -- one better than Bubba Watson's rally to win the Travelers Championship. Overton's downfall was his putter. He had 34 putts in the final round, three-putting three times.

"I got beat by a 59," said Overton, who had his third runner-up finish of the year and remains winless in five years on the Tour. "What can you say? I played great, hit a lot of great shots. You can't win golf tournaments when you putt it that bad."

Appleby's round was the first for the five 59s posted on a par-70 course. Goydos' came on a par 71 and the others on par 72s. That means the others posted more under-par than Appleby. In turn, they also had the advantage of more par 5s.

Appleby acknowledges there is room for debate. But do you really think he cares?

"I can see both sides of the fence," he said. "It is a number. I shot that number. But who says par is supposed to be 72? There's a lot of great courses that aren't 72."

And another thing.

He won.