Cristobal Del Solar shoots 57(!) in Korn Ferry Tour event

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[PHOTO: Hector Vivas]

The name Cristobal Del Solar might not be familiar to many golf fans, but after today’s performance, he’ll be more known by his new title: Mr 57.

The 30-year-old Chilean fired a 57 to set a new record for the lowest-ever score in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. Del Solar’s 13-under par round came on the first day of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Astara Golf Championship.

Check out this crazy scorecard that included two eagles, 14 3s or better and no 5s:

Now that is golfing your ball.

OK, now to a couple points of clarification. Del Solar’s round came at the Pacos course, the easier of the two courses being used at the Country Club of Bogota in Colombia. And in addition to it being a par 70, it also was playing at 5,719 metres (6,254 yards), which is very short for men’s pro golf. And it played even shorter considering the course is located nearly 3,000 metres above sea level.

That being said, the guy shot 57. And no one else has ever shot in the 50s at that course. Last year, the Pacos course ranked as the 17th hardest course on the Korn Ferry Tour with a 68.526 scoring average. So a 57 is still 11.5 shots better than that.

And he came this close to shooting 56(!):

https://twitter.com/KornFerryTour/status/1755664279280271774

Barely a reaction from him after tapping in for history. Crazy.

Jim Furyk on the PGA Tour (2016 Travelers Championship) and Stephen Jaeger on the Korn Ferry Tour (2016 Ellie Mae Classic) previously held the record for lowest rounds in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event with 58. Also of note, Australia’s Rhein Gibson, the man the Guinness Book of World Records credits with the lowest score ever (55), is in this week’s Astara Golf Championship field as the defending champion.

Upon finishing his first round, Del Solar led a group of players at eight under by five shots. Del Solar is in his second full season on the Korn Ferry Tour after finishing 52nd on the moneylist in 2023. And he’s off to a nice start to 2024 with a career-best fourth-place finish at last month’s season opener in the Bahamas.

His round also continued quite a week for Chilean golf. Last Friday Joaquin Niemann shot 59 in Mayakoba, then won his first LIV Golf title two days later. Del Solar is hoping for a similar finish in Colombia this week.