Duke shoots improbable 65 on almost impossible Saturday at TPC

Ken Duke shot one of the best rounds – if not the best round – in the history of The Players Championship on Saturday.

On a TPC Sawgrass course Rory McIlroy said bordered on unfair, Duke shot 7-under 65 to jump into a share of second place, four shots behind leader and world No. 1 Jason Day.

How did Duke manage that score, one that was more than 10 shots better than the 75.6 average score in the third round? Perhaps it started with embracing the challenge.

“I think this is our championship, The Players, and it should be set up as difficult as possible,” Duke said. “The conditions today, it shows it. You have to play your best golf around here, and obviously the best players in the world are here.”

The 47-year-old, one-time PGA Tour winner isn’t long. He can’t overpower golf courses. So, while it sounds counter intuitive, he needed the setup to force a more exacting style of golf, one that doesn’t penalize how he plays nearly as much as the soft, receptive conditions of the first two rounds. Duke thrived, posting the lowest score of the day on an afternoon when just six of 76 players broke par.

Now, at 10-under 206, Duke is in the penultimate Sunday pairing alongside Alex Cejka, who last year became the oldest first-time winner in PGA Tour history when he won the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open.

It’s like Duke took the Hyperloop up the leaderboard after opening with 2-over 74 on Thursday, finding himself 11 shots behind Day, who kicked off the week by tying the competitive course record at TPC Sawgrass. However, after his Saturday round, Day was among those marveling at what Duke accomplished on Saturday.

“What course was Ken Duke playing today? Can anyone tell me? Was he playing across the road?” Day said. “I mean it was just, to be able to shoot that score is better – I think that should be the course record. It was just an absolute joke.”

Russell Knox took it a step much further.

“That’s the best round of golf ever, probably,” he said. “It was incredible how hard it was out there.”

It’s safe to say this was unexpected — not only because of the conditions but also because of Duke’s form. He’s playing on a major medical exemption after breaking his wrist in September. His only top-50 finish of the season was a T-37 at The Honda Classic in March. He missed his last four cuts at The Players. And yet none of that mattered on Saturday.

“That’s golf for you. We all know that,” Duke said. “You see it every week out here on the Tour. The big guys play good every week, but there’s those guys that put it all together.”

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