Which golfer shot the highest single round score in PGA history?

In June, 2015, Tiger Woods made headlines when he shot the highest score of his professional career, 85, in the third round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. However, embarrasing though it may have been, Woods’ score still came nowhere near what is believed to be the highest single round score in Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) history.

In 1974, at the now-defunct Tallahassee Open at Killearn Country Club in Tallahassee, Florida, the late Mike Reasor, who could be described, not unfairly, as a ‘journeyman’ professional, shot level par for the first two rounds to make the halfway cut. However, Reasor needed to complete the 72-hole championship to retain exempt status for the Byron Nelson Golf Classic at Preston Trail Golf Club in Dallas, Texas two weeks later.

On the eve of the third round in Tallahassee, Reasor was thrown from a horse, suffering ligament damage to his left shoulder, which effectively immobilised his left arm, and other injuries. Undaunted, but heavily medicated, Reasor played the third round with just a 5-iron, which he swung one-handed, and shot a 51-over-par total of 123. Later quoted in the ‘New York Times’, Reasor said of his record-breaking round, ‘You should have seen them laughing on the first tee today. I stepped up with a 5‐iron and barely got it to the ladies’ tee.’ Indeed, Reasor played round four in similar fashion, improving to a 42-over-par total of 114, but failed to recover sufficiently from his injuries to play in the Byron Nelson Golf Classic in any case.