Sam Saunders lit up the Web.com Tour Finals at Atlantic Beach Country Club on Thursday with a 13-birdie 59, which included six straight birds at the end (and even a bogey!). Needless to say, he took the lead at at the last event of the year on the Web.com Tour. His 59 was the seventh sub-60 round in Web.com Tour history.

Saunders started on the back nine on Thursday and birdied four of his first five holes before making a bogey. It's hard enough to shoot a 59, but to do it with a bogey is nearly impossible. But Saunders lit up the rest of the course. He birdied three of his next six then burned it down at the end with six birdies in a row to close it out.

He said he started thinking about it with three holes to go.

"At that time, when I made that birdie, I realized I was 9 under and had a par-5 left," Saunders told reporters. "I really didn't start thinking about anything beyond that, until I birdied No. 7 to get to 10 (under par), and then I thought, 'Oh, I can birdie these last two and do a little 59.' And No. 8 is a tough hole, so I was pleased to hit a good shot there and it felt good. It was fun to chase it and feel pretty good while I was doing it."

Then he put one final birdie in the center of the cup for the magic number.

It was bigger than the 12-under 59 for Saunders, though. Not only does he sit at No. 24 in the Web.com Finals money list (top 25 earn their PGA Tour cards), but his family was all in attendance on Thursday because he lives in Atlantic Beach and plays this track as his home course.

"Honestly, I was excited because my wife (Kelly) and my son Cohen (8), who is really getting into golf, got to watch," he told reporters. "He's only watched me play three full rounds of golf, probably. He's watched me fail in golf a lot, which is good, that's a good lesson for him," said Saunders. "For my wife Kelly to be there; she's watched the ups and downs of this whole deal. I'm really glad that they got to be out there and watch me do that."

There are still three rounds to go for Saunders to secure his Tour card (after finishing outside the top 125 on the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup rankings last year), but Saunders appears well on his way to a pretty special week in Jacksonville.