Chiles High golfer Alex Parker shoots 59 at Golden Eagle Country Club

• Chiles High School senior Alex Parker shot a 13-under 59 at Golden Eagle Country Club.
• Parker borrowed his instructor’s putter for the round after struggling with his own.
• He secured the record-breaking score by sinking a 30-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole.
• The achievement is considered a rare feat in both amateur and professional golf.

As Alex Parker described it, everything was going his way.

Especially with the putter.

Ant that’s a key component of the story, too.

Prior to playing his scheduled 18-hole round of golf at Golden Eagle Country Club last week, Parker – a senior at Chiles High – had a lesson with Mike Abate, a certified golf instructor for 25 years.

Parker was practicing with four different putters on the green, not feeling comfortable with any of them except one:

Abate’s model (Scottie Cameron Newport 2.5).

So Parker borrowed it for his round at Golden Eagle.

And what happened next was a magical, memorable moment.

Parker not only set the course record, he shot what’s considered golf’s holy grail by breaking 60 with a 13-under 59.

Parker drained a 30-foot putt on the par-5 18th hole to accomplish one of the rarest feats in golf, either at the amateur or professional levels.

“That’s the best part,” Parker said and laughed.

“My putting has been all over the place and we had a lesson that morning and I had like four putters with me. I just wasn’t feeling good, but I liked his Blade…

“And then I threw up that score.”

Golfer Alex Parker breaks 60 at Golden Eagle Country Club

A first-team All-Big Bend selection in 2024, Parker focused on soccer as a youth. But once he discovered golf, Parker was hooked.

“What separates Alex is his work ethic – it’s unbelievable,” Abate said. “He is such a student of the game. He’s naturally gifted, but he’s also so driven and so focused.”

Parker, a two-time defending Big Bend and City Champion, has eyed the course record of 9-under 63 at Golden Eagle. He realized when he birdied the par-5 15th hole, he was on pace to either match or break it.

What Parker didn’t want was a repeat performance of a previous round with Abate at Hilaman Golf Course, where Parker said “I was probably playing the best round of golf in my life.”

But his score was derailed by an erratic driver off the tee in the closing holes.

That didn’t happen at Golden Eagle, where Parker needed an eagle on the 18th hole to break 60. To that point, Parker had carded 11 birdies and shot a 31 on the front side.

“I hit it well off the tee, had about 240 yards in, and hit a hybrid to the middle of the green,” Parker said. “I had a chance (30 feet away), and I was fortunate it ended up going in.”

“I am not sure he fully grasps what just happened but he’s in rarified air here,” Abate posted on social media. “Shooting 59 is no small feat. There are not many people in the world, tour pros included, that can say they shot a 59.”

Parker is hoping his record round – and solid putting (with or without Abate’s putter) – carries into the high school season.

The Timberwolves won their season-opening three-team match last week in Wakulla – Parker finished 1-under – and are at at Capital City Sept. 4 in a three-team match against Maclay and Wakulla.

“It has been a struggle over the past year or so – my tournament scores haven’t been exactly what I wanted it to be,” said Parker, who finished top-10 in a Florida Junior Tour event in Orlando last weekend. “But I’ve been playing good golf recently, getting my confidence back up.”