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GREENSBORO -- The threesome remains intact, but no one has much faith in it remaining an exclusive club forever.

Carl Pettersson's second-round 61 early Friday, seemed to suggest Sedgefield was once again there for the taking, just as it was during the Busch Tour days after time and technology threatened to swallow the charm of the Donald Ross masterpiece. After a first-day onslaught that produced 88 players breaking 70, folks walked onto the grounds Friday whispering the most cherished number in golf:

59.

In the 53 years since Mike Souchak's shocking 60 at the 1955 Texas Open, only three golfers have gone lower in a PGA Tour event. For a while Friday, it looked as if Pettersson would join that threesome.

Al Geiberger did it first, firing a 59 in the 1977 Memphis Open and taking the nickname. Mr. 59 had won the Greater Greensboro Open the year before, the last time the tournament was played at Sedgefield. Chip Beck of Fayetteville matched the number in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational only days after a hotel chain had put up $1 million to the next person to break 60. Beck donated half of it to charity.

The last man to break 60 was David Duval, whose 59 at the 1999 Hope Chrysler Classic included a six-foot eagle putt at the 18th. For a fleeting second Friday, as he stood looking down the fairway of the easiest hole on the course, Pettersson allowed himself to think of reaching the elusive number.

"I just had a brief moment thinking about it," he said, "but then I was kind of laughing at myself."

Of course, he bogeyed the hole.

The murmurs had already started in the gallery, word passing across the course that the former Grimsley High School golfer was chasing 59. By the time his group reached the 18th hole, he was virtually out of range, needing to hole a shot out of the rough 190 yards from the pin. An approach and two putts later, he walked off with a 61 that seemed to suggest a long day of players taking their shots at the number once thought out of reach in professional golf.

"I shot 59 at Treyburn in Durham down the road in '06 I think it was," Pettersson said later. "It wasn't a competition, just playing."

The N.C. State alumnus seemed to be playing alone Friday, quietly chasing an historic threesome while the Wyndham Championship field chased him. Throughout the gallery, people debated the possibilities. Could he do it? Would anyone match it? What would it mean for the tournament, the course, the reputation?

We'd been here before. The first-round leader of the first Nike Greensboro Open in 1998, Chris Zambri, shot a 63. That sparked a weekend watch at Sedgefield and some hand-wringing by the members who didn't necessarily appreciate watching the minor leaguers bringing their course to its knees. When the three-year Triple-A tour run ended here in 2000, six more golfers had shot 63, a mark that stood as the course record until Pettersson putted out Friday.

In the first tournament here since Mr. 59 won it in 1976, the specter of golf's lowest score was back. Duval, the last man to go that low, said that's not a lack of respect to him or the men who achieved it but the number itself.

"When people shoot 59, it's never expected," he said after his round Friday. "It doesn't matter what course you're on. I don't think any of the other players expected a 61 here. That's an incredible score. How many 61s are there? I think 62 is probably the number that's hard to get below."

The greatest players of their time never broke 62. Neither Arnold Palmer nor Jack Nicklaus ever got below it in their professional careers. Tom Watson never did it.

Pettersson's now done it twice, shooting a 61 in the 2005 Disney Classic. He's also the only pro to do it here, and for all the talk of someone shooting a 59 at Sedgefield, Pettersson understands both the significance of the number and the difficulty of the achievement.

No one will go out today in search of the lowest score in the history of the tour. And barring more rain or easy pin placements today, no one will get there. But for a brief moment Friday, standing on the 15th tee and dreaming of birdies and eagles and golf's most elusive number, Pettersson flinched.

The remaining field will head out today in search of a lot of birdies and eagles, but not one of them will be thinking about the improbable score of 59. That would be disrespectful of the three men who have reached it, disrespectful of a golf course just back from a long slumber and, most of all, disrespectful of the man who went out and broke the course record Friday.

Carl Pettersson.

Mr. 61

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com