Woody Austin unwittingly shoots 59 in Diamond Resorts Invitational

Breaking 60 has become so passe in golf that Woody Austin did it on Friday in the first round of the Diamond Resorts Invitational … and didn’t know he’d done it.

We kid, of course; shooting 59 or better is still a big deal. However, Austin wasn’t keeping track of his strokes in the conventional sense at the Orlando event. The field, which features a mix of 27 PGA Tour Champions and four LPGA Tour pros, as well 47 celebrities, is being contested under the modified Stableford scoring system. Austin made 10 birdies and an eagle, adding up to 43 points and first place among the pros. It also added up to 59 at the par-71 Tranquilo Golf Club at Four Seasons Resort.

“I really never thought about it until I birdied 16,” Austin said. “That got me to 11 under and I thought, OK.”

The thing is, Austin didn’t know the host course was a par-71 track. So when he walked off the 18th hole, he had no idea of what he accomplished.

“I didn’t know it was a par-71 so when I walked off the last green I thought I shot 60,” Austin said. “Everybody goes, ‘No, it’s a par-71.’ So, ah, cool.”

This 59 follows the one shot by Justin Thomas in the first round of the Sony Open in Hawaii on Thursday. That was done on the par-70 Waialae Country Club in Hawaii, the eighth such sub-60 round in PGA Tour history.

As for Austin’s round, it’s considered unofficial because this tournament is considered a silly-season event for unofficial money. In the PGA Tour Champions record book, there is only one official sub-60 round, shot by Kevin Sutherland in the 2014 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in New York.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.