Studs
Aldrich Potgieter becomes youngest player to shoot 59 in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event
Hector Vivas
For a second consecutive day, a sub-60 score was shot on the Korn Ferry Tour. This time, however, it was a different number that made it even more impressive.
Aldrich Potgieter's Friday 59 at the Astara Golf Championship didn't quite match the 57 shot by Cristobal Del Solar on Thursday. But at 19, Potgieter became the youngest player to shoot a sub-60 score in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
Del Solar, a 30-year-old Chilean, established a new record for low score in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in the first round with a 57 on the par-70 Pacos Course at Country Club de Bogota in Colombia. Potgieter's score also came on the Pacos Course, which measures only 6,254 yards and is located nearly 9,000 feet above sea level. Despite playing so short, though, there had never been a sub-60 shot on the course.
Potgieter made 10 birdies, an eagle and a birdie to shoot his 11-under-par round. Playing the back nine first, he birdied his final three holes on the front nine to record the 10th sub-60 score in Korn Ferry Tour history.
Not surprisingly, Potgieter and Del Solar are at the top of the leaderboard after two rounds with Del Solar trailing by one after a Friday 69 at the club's Lagos course. The par-71, 7,237-yard layout will be the site of the final two rounds over the weekend.
Del Solar bettered—at least, by number—the 58s previously shot by Jim Furyk on the PGA Tour (2016 Travelers Championship) and Stephen Jaeger on the Korn Ferry Tour (2016 Ellie Mae Classic).
For Potgieter, this is already the second time he's made golf history in 2024. In January, the South African bomber became the youngest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. The previous youngest winner on the circuit was Jason Day in 2007.