Have you heard about the round of 55 shot by Rhein Gibson a couple of days ago. I initially thought it was a hoax but now one of his playin...
Have you heard about the round of 55 shot by Rhein Gibson a couple of days ago. I initially thought it was a hoax but now one of his playing partners on the day Ryan Munson has written this account of what happened and several people witnessed. Gibson plays the GolfWeek Tour and won the Oklahoma Open on the same Oak Tree course back in 2010.
Here’s the link to the full article on golfpigeon
"Still playing?" was the message that Rhein Gibson sent to me at 7:13am on Saturday, May 12th, 2012. There had been hours and hours of rain overnight Friday and earlier in the morning. River Oaks Golf Club was wet, but it wasn't closed.
"Of course", I responded. After all, the regulars of this group miss very few Saturday morning rounds of golf.
Rhein Gibson, a rangy 26 year old from "down under" is very familiar with River Oaks; it is the home club of Oklahoma Christian University, the program that brought him from Australia to play college golf. He is now a member of the club, but he is also an aspiring PGA TOUR golfer. The Golfweek National Professional Golf Tour is Rhein's first step towards the accomplishment of that dream and it keeps him on the road in many cases for 3 weeks at a time. Rhein's ball striking is incredibly solid and he can roll the putter as well as anyone. In the game of golf though, sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't. On this day, they would fall.
The group began to trickle in for the 8:15 am tee time that would start on number 10 due to the Saturday "dual-tee" scheduling. There was no particular rush as the driving range was closed due to the muddy conditions caused by the rain, so warm-up time would be limited to rolling a few putts on the practice green.
River Oaks number 10 is a tricky par 4 because the green is guarded on three sides by a pond that punishes approach shots that are too short or too long. Rhein carded a fairly pedestrian par after a 3 iron, a wedge and 2 putts.
The par 5 number 11 allowed for Rhein's first swing with his brand new Cleveland Classic driver that had arrived a couple days earlier. BOOM! No, not even BOOM comes close to describing this ball as it left the tee box. Rhein's drive was right down the middle and longer than a politician's speech. He turned, looked at us, and just giggled. "Good luck catching that one." He had a 4 iron into the 555 yarder. His approach found the green and his putt was stroked purely. The ball fell in for an eagle.
He would then birdie 12; chip in for eagle on the par 5, 13th, birdie 14, 15, 16 and 17. Eric Fox, another Edmond man who was in the group, and I would occasionally exchange a bug-eyed look. Neither of us really knew what to do. His putts were going in center cut with near perfect speed. We were watching a no-hitter. No, we were watching a perfect game and a 3-minute mile done all at once. This can't happen and the last thing we wanted to do was jinx it.
"It wasn't like there was a bunch of kick-ins. The putts that fell were going in from everywhere, right in the middle," Fox would add.
Rhein stood up on the 18th hole, our 9th for the day, at 9 under par. Had this ever been done before? Out of bounds lurks on the right, along with a bunker and a large tree at about 285 yards. It is very hard to make the green in regulation if you hit it over there, unless you fly the tree! He did. Another scorched tee ball left less than 125 yards for Rhein on the 449 yard uphill par 4. He flipped it up on the green to about 13 feet.
After he made the right to left slider for birdie and completed a front nine 10 under par, Rhein said, "I was trying not to think about it. I was just trying to make a good stroke." Later he would say, "It is honestly the way I played the whole round." This outburst of near perfect golf resulted in Rhein carding a 26! All etiquette about the no-hitter went out the door. All superstition was replaced with whooping, hollering, high-fives and bro hugs. Rhein, Eric and I were all buzzing about what had just happened.
Since we had started on 10, we now faced the 1st, which features out-of-bounds on both sides of the hole and a north breeze that played directly at us. To top it off, due to double tee times, we had to wait for about 15 minutes for the group in front to clear. "That is not the tee ball you want to face after a wait when you are 10 under par", Rhein said.
The ball left the club and was heading right. My heart was in my throat as it looked like it might work its way out of bounds. But, it carried the mound that might have sent it out and he was left with a shot over the trees to the green. Rhein's approach shot found the putting surface and his birdie putt went by the cup just over the edge. Par.
A phenomenal lag, that nearly went in, from 50 feet on the par 3, 2nd, had to have helped re-settle Rhein's nerves, but it also led to another par. We were thinking he needed 2 more birdies to shoot the magic number of 59 on the par 71 layout. A week earlier, Rhein parred the last seven holes to score a 60. "That stung a little bit. You just don't get that many chances to break 60," Rhein said.
After a birdie on the par 5, 3rd, Rhein would need only one.
The 4th is a two hundred yard uphill par 3 that the members consider one of the toughest holes on the course. Making par and walking away is usually considered a victory. Rhein's five iron landed about 6 feet short of the hole, rolled forward and disappeared. We went into celebration mode as if to say we weren't partially there already. I hollered at the group on the 5th tee.
"Is it in?"
"No, but it is close," they shouted back.
The ball was hiding behind the stick. We could not see the ball. The most logical explanation was that it must have rolled around the cup and stopped on the back edge. A tap in birdie was the result. Rhein now stood at 12 under par.
My mind shifted gears. He made it to the magic number. He could just par in for 59! Birdies on 5, 7 and 8 removed all doubt about whether or not he could shoot 59. Now, Eric and I were wondering, "how low could this round go?" Our quizzical looks back and forth had been replaced with full blown amazement. "This is video game golf. It's like he is playing Golden Tee," said Eric, "This just doesn't happen."
I had been texting several people throughout the round and the news had spread. We had an ad hoc gallery waiting for us at number nine, our eighteenth hole of the day. In fact, one of the Prentice twins, Jacob I think, was walking across our fairway with his fishing pole and tackle box when I called him over and said, "Rhein is 15 under. Stick around. This is historic." He did and was joined on the 9th green, our 18th hole, by an ad hoc gallery.
"I wasn't nervous," Rhein said later. "I had this song playing in my head. It is that new one from the Eli Young Band. It was in there all day." Maybe he wasn't nervous but his 3 wood off the tee on number 9 went right. In fact, he hit it so far and so right that it made it through the trees that line the fairway and onto the 18th fairway. He had a look, but to land on the green, Rhein's approach from the eighteenth fairway had to carry trees that guard the green right to the edge of the putting surface.
Nobody really knew what was in Rhein's head, but I was as nervous as if it was my own round. He had a fantastic error-free round going. I just hated the idea of his only bogey coming on the last hole. Eric saw Rhein's swing and the ball taking flight. He said later the swing was perfect. The ball landed on the green behind the hole and stopped dead at about eight feet. Rhein had a putt for 55! Par was locked up. This would be a bogey free round of historic proportion.
The buzzing from the crowd around the green resembled crackling electric lines. Other golfers, club staff, and even a group of ten year-olds, brought by the teaching pro to watch, were all eager to see a course record for the ages being set. Eric and I were doing everything we could do to avoid being a distraction but the emotion in the air was palpable. Rhein knew it. We knew it. We were part of something special.
Time stood still. The ball left the putter on an aggressive roll - especially considering the fact that this putt was downhill and turning hard to the left. When it dropped out of sight, it had rolled over the exact center of the hole! Everybody went nuts! Oh by the way, I had just shot 69 and lost by 14 strokes.
It is possible to believe that the magnitude of this achievement will never set in for those who were a part of it. According to the Guinness World Record's book, 16 under par 55 is the lowest round ever recorded on a regulation eighteen hole course. In a game in which records are honored and statistics are kept for centuries, this one round stands alone. Rhein Gibson, the mini-tour player from Australia has played the greatest round of golf in the history of the game.
Jim Young, a teaching pro and regular member of the Saturday morning group, summed it up hilariously. "Hey Rhein," he said. "Act like you've been there before, even if NO ONE ever has!"
You might be asking yourself: "What do you do after you shoot a 16 under 55?"
If you are Rhein Gibson, you go home and mow the lawn.
Here’s the link to the full article on golfpigeon
"Still playing?" was the message that Rhein Gibson sent to me at 7:13am on Saturday, May 12th, 2012. There had been hours and hours of rain overnight Friday and earlier in the morning. River Oaks Golf Club was wet, but it wasn't closed.
"Of course", I responded. After all, the regulars of this group miss very few Saturday morning rounds of golf.
Rhein Gibson, a rangy 26 year old from "down under" is very familiar with River Oaks; it is the home club of Oklahoma Christian University, the program that brought him from Australia to play college golf. He is now a member of the club, but he is also an aspiring PGA TOUR golfer. The Golfweek National Professional Golf Tour is Rhein's first step towards the accomplishment of that dream and it keeps him on the road in many cases for 3 weeks at a time. Rhein's ball striking is incredibly solid and he can roll the putter as well as anyone. In the game of golf though, sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't. On this day, they would fall.
The group began to trickle in for the 8:15 am tee time that would start on number 10 due to the Saturday "dual-tee" scheduling. There was no particular rush as the driving range was closed due to the muddy conditions caused by the rain, so warm-up time would be limited to rolling a few putts on the practice green.River Oaks number 10 is a tricky par 4 because the green is guarded on three sides by a pond that punishes approach shots that are too short or too long. Rhein carded a fairly pedestrian par after a 3 iron, a wedge and 2 putts.
The par 5 number 11 allowed for Rhein's first swing with his brand new Cleveland Classic driver that had arrived a couple days earlier. BOOM! No, not even BOOM comes close to describing this ball as it left the tee box. Rhein's drive was right down the middle and longer than a politician's speech. He turned, looked at us, and just giggled. "Good luck catching that one." He had a 4 iron into the 555 yarder. His approach found the green and his putt was stroked purely. The ball fell in for an eagle.
He would then birdie 12; chip in for eagle on the par 5, 13th, birdie 14, 15, 16 and 17. Eric Fox, another Edmond man who was in the group, and I would occasionally exchange a bug-eyed look. Neither of us really knew what to do. His putts were going in center cut with near perfect speed. We were watching a no-hitter. No, we were watching a perfect game and a 3-minute mile done all at once. This can't happen and the last thing we wanted to do was jinx it.
"It wasn't like there was a bunch of kick-ins. The putts that fell were going in from everywhere, right in the middle," Fox would add.
Rhein stood up on the 18th hole, our 9th for the day, at 9 under par. Had this ever been done before? Out of bounds lurks on the right, along with a bunker and a large tree at about 285 yards. It is very hard to make the green in regulation if you hit it over there, unless you fly the tree! He did. Another scorched tee ball left less than 125 yards for Rhein on the 449 yard uphill par 4. He flipped it up on the green to about 13 feet.
After he made the right to left slider for birdie and completed a front nine 10 under par, Rhein said, "I was trying not to think about it. I was just trying to make a good stroke." Later he would say, "It is honestly the way I played the whole round." This outburst of near perfect golf resulted in Rhein carding a 26! All etiquette about the no-hitter went out the door. All superstition was replaced with whooping, hollering, high-fives and bro hugs. Rhein, Eric and I were all buzzing about what had just happened.
Since we had started on 10, we now faced the 1st, which features out-of-bounds on both sides of the hole and a north breeze that played directly at us. To top it off, due to double tee times, we had to wait for about 15 minutes for the group in front to clear. "That is not the tee ball you want to face after a wait when you are 10 under par", Rhein said.
The ball left the club and was heading right. My heart was in my throat as it looked like it might work its way out of bounds. But, it carried the mound that might have sent it out and he was left with a shot over the trees to the green. Rhein's approach shot found the putting surface and his birdie putt went by the cup just over the edge. Par.
A phenomenal lag, that nearly went in, from 50 feet on the par 3, 2nd, had to have helped re-settle Rhein's nerves, but it also led to another par. We were thinking he needed 2 more birdies to shoot the magic number of 59 on the par 71 layout. A week earlier, Rhein parred the last seven holes to score a 60. "That stung a little bit. You just don't get that many chances to break 60," Rhein said.
After a birdie on the par 5, 3rd, Rhein would need only one.
The 4th is a two hundred yard uphill par 3 that the members consider one of the toughest holes on the course. Making par and walking away is usually considered a victory. Rhein's five iron landed about 6 feet short of the hole, rolled forward and disappeared. We went into celebration mode as if to say we weren't partially there already. I hollered at the group on the 5th tee.
"Is it in?"
"No, but it is close," they shouted back.
The ball was hiding behind the stick. We could not see the ball. The most logical explanation was that it must have rolled around the cup and stopped on the back edge. A tap in birdie was the result. Rhein now stood at 12 under par.
My mind shifted gears. He made it to the magic number. He could just par in for 59! Birdies on 5, 7 and 8 removed all doubt about whether or not he could shoot 59. Now, Eric and I were wondering, "how low could this round go?" Our quizzical looks back and forth had been replaced with full blown amazement. "This is video game golf. It's like he is playing Golden Tee," said Eric, "This just doesn't happen."
I had been texting several people throughout the round and the news had spread. We had an ad hoc gallery waiting for us at number nine, our eighteenth hole of the day. In fact, one of the Prentice twins, Jacob I think, was walking across our fairway with his fishing pole and tackle box when I called him over and said, "Rhein is 15 under. Stick around. This is historic." He did and was joined on the 9th green, our 18th hole, by an ad hoc gallery.
"I wasn't nervous," Rhein said later. "I had this song playing in my head. It is that new one from the Eli Young Band. It was in there all day." Maybe he wasn't nervous but his 3 wood off the tee on number 9 went right. In fact, he hit it so far and so right that it made it through the trees that line the fairway and onto the 18th fairway. He had a look, but to land on the green, Rhein's approach from the eighteenth fairway had to carry trees that guard the green right to the edge of the putting surface.
Nobody really knew what was in Rhein's head, but I was as nervous as if it was my own round. He had a fantastic error-free round going. I just hated the idea of his only bogey coming on the last hole. Eric saw Rhein's swing and the ball taking flight. He said later the swing was perfect. The ball landed on the green behind the hole and stopped dead at about eight feet. Rhein had a putt for 55! Par was locked up. This would be a bogey free round of historic proportion.
The buzzing from the crowd around the green resembled crackling electric lines. Other golfers, club staff, and even a group of ten year-olds, brought by the teaching pro to watch, were all eager to see a course record for the ages being set. Eric and I were doing everything we could do to avoid being a distraction but the emotion in the air was palpable. Rhein knew it. We knew it. We were part of something special.
Time stood still. The ball left the putter on an aggressive roll - especially considering the fact that this putt was downhill and turning hard to the left. When it dropped out of sight, it had rolled over the exact center of the hole! Everybody went nuts! Oh by the way, I had just shot 69 and lost by 14 strokes.
It is possible to believe that the magnitude of this achievement will never set in for those who were a part of it. According to the Guinness World Record's book, 16 under par 55 is the lowest round ever recorded on a regulation eighteen hole course. In a game in which records are honored and statistics are kept for centuries, this one round stands alone. Rhein Gibson, the mini-tour player from Australia has played the greatest round of golf in the history of the game.
Jim Young, a teaching pro and regular member of the Saturday morning group, summed it up hilariously. "Hey Rhein," he said. "Act like you've been there before, even if NO ONE ever has!"
You might be asking yourself: "What do you do after you shoot a 16 under 55?"
If you are Rhein Gibson, you go home and mow the lawn.
COMMENTS