Cristóbal del Solar has written a golden page in the history of golf this Thursday. The 30-year-old Chilean golfer has handed in a 57-stroke card on the first day of the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard, a tournament of the Korn Ferry Tour taking place in Colombia.
It is the lowest card ever signed in a tournament organised by the PGA Tour. It surpasses the 58 strokes made by Jim Furyk at the Travelers Championship in 2016. The Korn Ferry Tour is the second division of American golf and is celebrating the fourth tournament of the season this week. Bryson DeChambeau also scored 58 strokes at the LIV Golf Greenbrier last year.
DeChambeau, bombazo de récord: ¡58 golpes y 22 birdies en 34 hoyos!
Del Solar has matched the lowest record known in a professional tournament, which belonged to Irishman David Carey, who also scored 57 strokes at the Alps Tour, specifically at the Cervino Open in 2019. The course was the Cervino Golf Club in Italy. However, it was a par 68. Carey won that tournament and since then has been nicknamed Mr. 57 on social media.
Well, as of today, there is a new Mr. 57. Del Solar did it on the Pacos course, one of the two at the Country Club de Bogotá that are hosting the tournament this week. It is a par 70, 6,254-yard course played at nearly three thousand metres above sea level. In other words, it is a short course by usual standards, which does not detract from the feat achieved by Del Solar.
All smiles from Mr.57 after a history-making round pic.twitter.com/8bEOKyofpc
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) February 8, 2024
It is worth savouring the Chilean golfer’s card. He started with six consecutive ‘threes’, made a total of thirteen and finished with nine birdies and two eagles. He scored a 2 on a par 4 and a 3 on a par 5. Halfway through his first nine holes today, he already had an accumulated eight under par (27 strokes) and continued with another five under in the second nine.
Del Solar ranks 259th in the world ranking and his best position has been 241st. He has competed in the PGA Tour Latinoamérica and the Korn Ferry Tour. His best year was 2022. He achieved two victories in Latinoamérica and moved up to the penultimate step of the PGA Tour pyramid. He had a good year in 2023, with four top 10s in the Korn Ferry, although he did not manage to move up to the PGA Tour.
Del Solar has three victories in Latinoamérica and his best position is a fourth in the Korn Ferry Tour. We will now see if he is able to win a tournament after signing 57 strokes on the first day. He was born in Viña del Mar, lives in Palm Beach, Florida, and his coach is Edo Miquel, who also works with Joaco Niemann, another Chilean who last week scored 59 strokes at LIV Golf, and the Spanish Azahara Muñoz.
