Rhein Gibson, a 26-year-old former player at Oklahoma Christian University, reportedly shot 16-under 55 May 12 at River Oaks Country Club.
Gibson, playing his home course when he was in college, teed off the 8:15 a.m. with a par at No. 10. He made just three more the rest of the way.
The round was kickstarted with eagles on the back-nine par 5s, Nos. 11 and 13. Birdies on the remaining six holes of the side had Gibson out in 26.
After a pair of pars at the turn, he responded with birdies on six of the last seven holes for a second-side 29. An audience of 30 had gathered at the last hole to watch the final birdie fall from 5 feet, according to Golf Oklahoma.
All told, Gibson signed for 12 birdies, four pars and two eagles – adding up to 55 – on the 6,698-yard course. His scorecard, courtesy website Reddit, is below.
Gibson played with a pair of witnesses who attested to the round. Ryan Munson, a financial adviser, and Eric Fox, a former college golfer at Southwestern Oklahoma, saw every shot. Thanks to tweets and word of mouth, the crowd grew and the round drew to a close.
“I really wasn’t nervous on those last few holes,’ Gibson told Golf Oklahoma. ‘By then, I knew I was in the 50s, so it was just a matter of how low it was going to be. I would be more nervous over a 3-foot putt to make a cut.”
Gibson is not the first person to shoot 55, but is in rare company. Steve Gilley shot 16-under 55, as he made three eagles and 10 birdies in a 2005 round at Lynwood Golf and Country Club in Martinsville, Va., in preparation for U.S. Open qualifying.
Former PGA and Champions Tour player Homero Blancas carded 55 as an amateur in the 1962 Premier Invitational in Longview, Texas. The course, however, was a nine-hole layout played twice with two sets of tee boxes to create a 5,000-yard, par 70.