What makes a great round of golf at the professional level?

First off, a player has to have the low round of the day to qualify. Not only that, but he really should beat the brakes off everybody over that 18 holes. Let’s say minimum two strokes better than the next-closest competitor.

The next thing to consider is importance. Yeah, it’s nice to shoot 64 in the first round and have a three-shot lead, but if you finish 11th, who really cares? A great round should relate to a victory, or at the very least a dramatic change in a player’s circumstances.

Given those two factors, here are the five best rounds on PGA TOUR Champions in 2022 in reverse order:

5. Rocco Mediate

Score: 64
Next closest to him: 67
When and where: Final round, Dominion Energy Charity Classic

Why it makes the list: Windy and cool conditions made it a difficult day at the Country Club of Virginia for the final round of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first of the three Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs events. But Mediate carded a 64 that tied for low round of the tournament. He hit 12 fairways and 15 greens en route to eight birdies and no bogeys. More importantly for Mediate, he moved from 39th to a tie for eighth in the event and from 35th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings to 28th, all but ensuring himself a spot in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

What he said: “I played well, hit it good, made a couple of nice up-and-downs to keep it going. Started solid and just started making a bunch of putts. … It was important because of what it did for me in the Schwab Cup standings. It’s nice to finish in the top 36. It’s so cool to be there and be in the last event. That round in Virginia was crazy. Just solid, solid stuff.”

4. Padraig Harrington

Score: 62
Next closest to him: 63
When and where: Third round, Charles Schwab Cup Championship

Why it makes the list: Only one player came within three shots of Harrington’s blistering 9-under 62. It gave him a five-shot cushion entering the final round, one which virtually ensured he’d have a cakewalk to the title, and he did.

What Steven Alker said: “Padraig kicked my ass today, that's basically what happened. He had a nice round, just kind of pulled away on the back nine.”

3. Steven Alker

Score: 63
Next closest to him: 65
When and where: Final round, KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship

Why it makes the list: Alker trailed Stephen Ames by four strokes entering the day. He wasn’t even in the final group. But he wound up winning his first major by three strokes after firing an 8-under 63. Even he cited it as his best round of the year via text, though he also mentioned that his final-round 68 at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship “although unspectacular was pretty good under the circumstances.”

What Ames said: “I’ve watched Steven play on the (DP World) Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour. All of a sudden out here, wow. It’s fantastic, great to see.”

2. Bernhard Langer

Score: 63
Next closest to him: 65
When and where: Second round, TimberTech Championship

Why it makes the list: Langer broke his own record for oldest player to win on PGA TOUR Champions when he followed up the lowest round of the tournament on Saturday with the lowest round of the day (66) on Sunday to win the second event in the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs. In shooting a 63, he beat his age by two strokes and whipped the entire field. He now stands only one victory away from tying Hale Irwin for most wins on PGA TOUR Champions (45).

What he said: “When I birdied the first three and almost … left the fourth birdie a quarter-inch short on line, and then holed a bunker shot on the next hole, I was thinking, ‘Well, this may be another day when you shoot your age.’ But it's still early days and there's a lot of golf left, but it kept going. And then I thought about it, on, yeah, 17, heck, you're 8 under, let's see if you can get one or two more.”

1. Fred Couples

Score: 60
Next closest to him: 64
When and where: Final round, SAS Championship

Why it makes the list: It was the lowest round of the year on PGA TOUR Champions and the most strokes separating one round from the rest of the field. More importantly, it led Couples to his first win on PGA TOUR Champions since the 2017 American Family Insurance Championship. Two players shot 64, one shot 66, and the next closest were at 67. Unlike two rounds on this list, this was a full-field event. And only three players came within seven shots of Couples! That’s taking the field to the woodshed. Couples finishes the front nine with five consecutive birdies, parred Nos. 10 and 11, then birdied in! Yep, seven in a row!!! He hit 15 greens and led the field in putting. It simply was a tour de force by the Hall of Famer.

What he said: “It's easy to say because we're standing here, but I think it's the best round I've ever played. I hit a few loose shots, you know, got away from them, but I made so many putts. You know, I don't know what other rounds I've ever shot on the Champions Tour that are close to 60, so this would probably be my best round and lowest score by far.”