Justin Rose wasn’t thinking one bit about the course record at TPC Southwind on Saturday.

“But I was aware of 59,” he said after his third round in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Fifty-nine. A magic number.

You can cheer the shoes, but HUSH Y’ALL when golfers tee up

Especially in Memphis, where 46 years ago — on June 10, 1977, to be precise — Al Geiberger did the then-unimaginable.

He shot 59 at Cordova’s Colonial Country Club in the second round of the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, as the city’s annual PGA Tour stop was known at the time. In doing so, Geiberger — aka “Mr. 59” ever since — became the first professional to post a score that low in a PGA-sanctioned tournament.

Geiberger was so proud, he’d hand out tees emblazoned with 59. Since he did it, only 10 others have shot a sub-60 round on Tour.

One of the 10 is Jim Furyk, who shot one of the 59s (in 2013) along with a 58 — the lowest round in PGA Tour history, during the final round 2016 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.

The most recent 59 came from current World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, in 2020 during The Northern Trust at TPC Boston.

Buckley: Memphis hasn’t been kind to the world’s No. 1. Will it finally change?

And there was Rose on Saturday, not shy to say it, despite shooting Thursday’s highest score of 76.

Two days later he was thinking 59.

Especially on the back side after shooting a six-under-par 29 on the front.

“That was really my primary objective,” Rose said of the number Geiberger made famous in Memphis.

“Middle of the 15th fairway at 8-under, that’s a sand wedge into the green. Hit a good shot, over the top of the flag. That’s one of the challenges all the players are having this week, is just controlling your distances with the short irons. The ball is going so far because of the heat.”

Oh, it’s been hot outside alright.

Real hot. How hot?

Friday’s high was 94. It felt like 194.

“I haven’t played in this heat,” Rose said Saturday, “since maybe Memphis last year.”

Back to the round.

Rose birdied 1, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 in a bogey-free front Saturday. An early morning rain that dampened an already saturated Southwind certainly didn’t hurt.

“Hit two good shots in there (at 3, a par-5). Birdied the par-3 off the back of that, and then I chipped in at No. 5 to go 4-under through 5,” he said, “and I felt like, ‘OK, my round is up and running.’

“Then actually felt like I could have birdied 6 and 7 and didn’t.”

A frustrated Rose knew he was onto something, though, so he had to refocus.

“Did a good job birdieing 8 and 9, and played really strongly, I felt, all of the back nine,” Rose said, “and when I did get into a little bit of trouble on 13 and 17, holed nice par putts.”

‘Our St. Jude miracle’ tees up at golf tourney

After back-side birdies in 11 and 12 followed by three straight pars — including one on the aforementioned par-4 15 — the South African-born Englishman, 2013 U.S. Open winner and 2018 FedEx Cup winner attacked his next hole.

Going sub-60 still was on his mind.

“Obviously 16 is always an opportunity where you kind of throw an eagle at it or something,” he said. “So I knew that 59 was obviously on the cards.”

Instead of an eagle, Rose wound up with a birdie-4. Shooting 59 at that point was starting to look bleak. He’d have to finish birdie-birdie, a tough ask.

The wind was picking up, and Rose figured another storm —they’ve plagued Memphis much of the week — might be brewing.

It made the last two holes — his words — “pretty tricky.”

“But, in the end,” Rose said, “happy to end up with two pars.”

When Rose came up short with his first putt on 18, a 20-some-foot birdie attempt, he knew right away.

Short.

Had he sunk it, Rose would have had the Southwind record.

Instead, he tied it at nine-under 61 — joining a group that includes Jay Delsing (1993, pre-renovation), Bob Estes (2001, pre-reno) and Tom Lewis (2020) doing it in PGA Tour events at the course.

With visions of 59, the course record had not even entered Rose’s mind. He learned he had tied it only after walking off 18.

“Nice little bonus for the day,” Rose said.

It was.

Especially considering his opening-day play that left him in risk of missing the FedEx Cup’s cut from 70 to 50 for the second round of the playoffs.

Which begs the question: How in the world does someone go from a 76 one day to a 61 two days later?

Especially an 11-time PGA Tour winner like Rose?

Blame the putter.

“Got totally caught out with the speed of the greens Day 1,” Rose said. “For some reason, they felt to me much quicker than the putting green.

“Yeah, just was like knocking it 6 feet past, missing putts, four-putted, two three-putts, and then I guess just chased a couple of the wrong pins at the wrong time and just compounded a few errors, and it all amounted to 76.”

By Friday, Rose — who also flirted with a 59 at the 2022 Canadian Open, only to wind up with a 60 — was back on track with a 67.

But the damage was done.

He went out Saturday in the day’s fourth group, starting 13 shots behind second-round leader Lucas Glover and seemingly out of contention.

Yet there he was Saturday, playing lights out. He sits at 6-under, now tied for 23rd with eight others and eight strokes back of Glover, who shot 66 Saturday and still leads after three rounds.

Which begs another question, perhaps a ridiculous one had it been after Rose’s Thursday round: Is there a 59 out there Sunday? For him? For anyone?

Rose didn’t think the query was silly at all.

“Everyone is so good that if you get a guy that’s on, it’s out there,” he said.

“I think 59 is out of the equation when the golf course is firm, but the fact it’s soft — that means it’s on. But you’ve got to do everything right. You’ve got to put it in play off all of the tee boxes and obviously have everything go your way and make a lot of putts.”

That darn putter: Live by it. Die by it. Do everything else right, maybe shoot a 59 with it.