Michael Kim shoots 59 at 3M Open, sinking dramatic birdie at the 18th for history

Michael Kim stood on the 17th tee at TPC Twin Cities with a clear mind and a crystal clear goal: make two more birdies.

The opportunity to shoot 59 may come just once in your lifetime. Better, at least give it a run.

If the pace of his putt at the 18th was any indication, he certainly did. The score indicates that, too.

Kim closed with four straight birdies to shoot 12-under 59 at the 3M Open on Friday, the first to shoot sub-60 this season. He holed a 17-foot birdie at the 17th and a 24-footer for birdie to seal it at the 18th.

Kim’s 12-under 59 is the 16th round of 59 or lower in PGA TOUR history. Jake Knapp was the last to do it at the 2025 The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. Kim made 12 birdies and no bogeys en route to his second round at TPC Twin Cities.

"I kind of remember thinking on 18 that you have to go for it," Kim said, "60 or 61 doesn't really make too much of a difference."

The run began at the third hole, sinking a 13-foot birdie putt, the first of five straight. That was the longest putt he needed to convert during that run, repeatedly stuffing approach shots close. Kim added another birdie at the ninth to make the turn in 6-under 29 and quickly continued his torrid pace with birdies at the 10th and 12th holes. Still, he seemed too far off the pace when he reached the 15th hole, needing to play the final four holes in 4-under.

He did just that, and he relied on the putter down the stretch.

Kim holed four birdie putts outside 10 feet, including the decisive 24-footer for birdie at the 18th, rolling it in, raising his hands into the air and fist-pumping.

"There's a lot of water on 17 and 18 and I just kind of told myself like hey, this is the way -- this is the moment to get into the history books and let's go for it, let's not try to luck our way into it, let's try to step up and hit some really good shots," Kim said. "To be able to make some putts, and the putts that I made on 17 and 18 is what I get most from PGA TOUR golf, from golf in general, so really proud of that."

The score is Kim’s career best and sets a new course record at TPC Twin Cities. Kim is 14-under through 36 holes and the current leader. Can he turn the historic round into a historic week? Kim is searching for his second career win and will be chasing this feeling for 36 more holes around TPC Twin Cities.

"We still have a long ways to go and that guy named Scottie Scheffler is probably going to throw up a good score today anyway," Kim said. "Nowhere near done."