The Genesis Invitational

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    Watch Web.com Tour pro Chris Baker painfully miss three birdie tries for a 59

    June 01, 2019
    chris-baker-webcomtour-2019.jpg

    Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

    There really shouldn’t be anything to get upset about when you shoot a 60 in a professional golf tournament. It’s a 60. It’s an amazing score. It puts you at or near the lead and sets up the potential for victory. It’s a very, very, VERY good thing.

    And yet, Chris Baker, might have walked away from the Country Club at Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday a little bummed with his second-round 10-under 60 at the Web.com Tour’s Rex Hospital Open. That’s because it came oh so close to being even better. Maybe even WAY better.

    Sitting at 11 under par through 15 holes, having made seven straight birdies in one stretch and 11 in 13 holes, the 33-year-old from Seymour, Ind., had three more birdie looks on the last three holes that could have gotten him to golf’s magic number. Or even lower. Historically lower. Just making one would have gotten him to 59, and if he made all three, well, 57 turns you suddenly into a household figure in golf even if you’re currently just 28th on the Web.com Tour money list.

    Unfortunately for Baker, his luck ran out over those final three holes, as you can see here:

    Each time Baker just missed to the right of the hole. The one on No. 18 feels painful because it was the shortest, but the one on No. 16 felt most cruel given it looked like it was just about to drop at the end.

    “I did everything I could,” Baker said. “It’s just exciting when you’re playing great and everything is going well. You almost just want to get out of your own way and let it go. It was a blast. I had a lot of fun today.”

    While Baker failed to become the eighth golfer in Web.com Tour history to shoot a sub-60 score, he does lead the rain-delayed event by three strokes. This is his 131st Web.com Tour start dating back to 2009, and the Iowa State grad is still looking for his first Web.com victory, with his best finish thus far being a playoff loss at the 2017 Panama Championship. He might not have shot a 59 on Friday, but a 60 goes a long way to giving him a chance to have a career-defining moment this weekend.