Was Cam Young’s 59 ‘Meaningless’ Because of Modern Tech and Equipment?

Cameron Young became the most recent player to break the 60 barrier on the PGA TOUR, shooting a 59 on Saturday at TPC River Highlands during the Travelers Championship.

Young’s feat was impressive, and just the 13th sub-60 score in PGA TOUR history, but one social media user and developer of an advanced golf database called the accomplishment “meaningless” due to advances in the modern game, including technology and equipment.

A 28 on the front nine was followed up by a 31 on the back, and Young’s seven birdies and two eagles were enough to capture the low round of the tournament.

However, there’s always a skeptic:

A meaningless “accomplishment” in the era of speed, Trackman, and failure to regulate equipment responsibly https://t.co/MDAm4TAypp

— Joseph LaMagna (@JosephLaMagna) June 22, 2024

Thousands and thousands of rounds are played on the PGA TOUR each year. 36 tournaments a year with either 132, 144, or 156 players a week, and each player plays either 2 or 4 rounds in a weekend. That’s well over 15,000 rounds a year on average on the PGA TOUR.

If we take the last 30 years, that equates to over 466,000 rounds of golf on TOUR, and only 13 have been under 60.

That’s .000027 percent of rounds.

Despite this, advances in technology, which helps players drive the ball further and increase their advantages, analytical data provided by TrackMan, and increases in overall speed have some thinking Smith’s round is nothing to bat an eye at.

The argument? Seven of the thirteen sub-60 rounds have occurred since 2010 on the PGA TOUR. We cannot forget Bryson DeChambeau’s 58 last year at LIV Greenbrier.

The thing is, there are a lot of very talented players on the PGA TOUR. All of them have access to what Cam Young has access to, and many would argue that Young is not quite as good as some other names on the TOUR. Despite this, a sub-60 round is incredibly rare, and Young is the most recent person to break the 60 barrier.

Obviously, it takes tremendous skill to break 60 on a PGA TOUR course, and even with the advancements in technology, the player still has work to do.

What do you think? Is the impressive nature of a sub-60 golf round whithering?

Cover Image via Fox News

Follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also follow me on X, Instagram, and TikTok.