Cristobal Del Solar made golf history Thursday, becoming the first player to record a score of 57 in a PGA Tour-sponsored event at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Astara Golf Championship in Colombia.
Del Solar’s 13-under-par effort came at Country Club de Bogota-Pacos. He made par on the final three holes after making nine birdies and two eagles on the 6,254-yard, par-70 course that plays at approximately 9,000 feet above sea level.
The 57 beat the record of 58 shot by Jim Furyk at the 2016 Travelers Championship as well as the 58 of Stephan Jaeger a week earlier at the Ellie Mae Classic.
“Honestly, I was just playing,” he said. “I didn’t even know what I was at. Actually, I asked my caddie on the 18th after hitting my 18th tee shot, we were just walking and I told him, I was like, “Hey, am I going to break 60, because I’ve never broken 60 before.’ He was like, “You’re going to break a little bit more than 60.’ I played really good golf. I drove the ball well, chipped it well, putted well. I’m happy. It was a great round.”
Del Solar made six birdies and an eagle over his opening nine holes to shoot 27, matching a Korn Ferry Tour record and just one off the PGA Tour record set by Corey Pavin at Brown Deer Park during the 2006 U.S. Bank Championship.
He got to 13 under through 15 holes and then parred the final three.
Del Solar, 30, from Chile, is in his second season on the Korn Ferry Tour and played college golf at Florida State. He was playing the easier of the two courses used for the event and has a four-shot advantage after the first round.
“The greens are softer,” he said. “There was a whole bunch of rain at the beginning of the week. Last year when I played the greens were a lot firmer and I hit driver everywhere kind of like just what I did today and then I kind of short-sided myself a few times and I couldn’t get it close.
“But the greens were so soft and the pins were still tucked, but the greens were so soft that I could just hit it near the green and just flop it near the hole or something.”
