Michael Johnson needed to take his shoes off.
That was the only way he could truly convey the shocking and toe-tingling round of golf his good friend Bobby Wyatt was playing.
Bobby Wyatt
Photo courtesy of AJGA
The incoming University of Alabama freshman and recent graduate of the UMS Wright Prep School in Mobile (Ala.) fired a course-record 57 in the second round of Alabama Golf Association’s State Boys Junior Championship on Wednesday.
Rated the No. 1 high school player from the Class of 2010 by Polo Golf, Wyatt blistered the 6,628-yard Country Club of Mobile course with an eagle, 12 birdies and five pars, easily breaking the course record of 63.
His 125 total is eight shots ahead of Smylie Kaufman (67-66-133), who was one hole behind Wyatt and trying to get updates from Johnson, one of Wyatt’s playing partners and future Alabama teammates.
According to an Alabama Press-Register story, Johnson couldn’t keep up with Wyatt’s record pace.
“We were very aware of what Bobby was doing,” Kaufman told the newspaper. “(Johnson) kept holding up fingers to say how many birdies Bobby had made. We said to ourselves he was going to run out of fingers and have to start using his toes too. Sure enough, he ran out of fingers.”
According to the
Guinness Book of World Records, Wyatt’s round is the lowest of all time for competitive play on golf courses longer than 6,500 yards.
The only competitive round lower, according to reports, were by PGA golfer Homero Blancas, who shot a 55 in the 1962 Premier Invitational in Longview, Texas. Blancas was an amateur at the time.
But that was at a par-70 course that measure just longer than 5,000 yards and played over the same nine holes twice.
Wyatt shot a 9-under 26 on the front nine and 31 on the back, which featured back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17.
Country Club of Mobile is Wyatt's home course and his previous low score on any course was 62. He needed just 23 putts on the round and it was almost 22 as a birdie try on the 18th hung on the lip. He tapped in for a measly par.
“It was unbelievable,” Wyatt told reporters after the round. “I got off to a fast start with birdies on my first two holes, then was three-under after four and it kept going from there.”
If he can hold on, Wyatt will win his fourth straight state crown. He turns 18 over the weekend.
Wyatt won his first tournament as an 11-year-old, following in the footsteps of his older brother Ford and father Cliff.
“I just tagged along with them,” he told the
Birmingham News in a 2009 story. “I’ve had a club in my hands since I could walk.”
