The kids are good.
A day after Cristobal Del Solar became the first golfer to shoot 57 in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event, a 19-year-old has also shot a sub-60 round on the same course.
Adrich Potgieter, who won the Korn Ferry Tour’s Bahamas Great Abaco Classic two weeks ago, has now shot the 10th sub-60 round in Korn Ferry Tour history with his 11-under 59 during the second round of the Astara Golf Championship at the Pacos Course at Country Club de Bogata in Colombia.
Potgieter is the youngest player to shoot 59 in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
“I had to play well, I knew I had to play well to be able to shoot this low,” Potgieter said. “It was just kind of the confidence to hit the ball, get it close, make putts. Not many mistakes, I think that was a big thing, trying to eliminate the mistakes and just try to keep the ball in play. There’s not much danger on the short course, so just try to shoot under the 60s, try to get as low as I can, but definitely looking at that.”
The Pacos Course is the shortest on the Korn Ferry Tour, playing at 6,254 yards, as well as being nearly 9,000 feet above sea level. However, narrow fairways and tricky greens always create challenges for players, and there had never been a sub-60 score until Thursday.
And now, for the second straight day, a player has recorded a sub-60 round.
Potgieter went out in 7-under 28, playing the back nine at the Pacos Course. Then on the front, he added five more birdies, including three in a row on his final three holes, to shoot 59.
Ten birdies, one eagle and even a bogey, but it was enough to record the 12th sub-60 score in Korn Ferry Tour history. It’s also the first time there has been two sub-60 scores at one PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
Potgieter sits at 16-under 125 after two rounds in Colombia, one shot in front of Del Solar, who followed up his record-setting performance with a 2-under 69 on the Lagos Course.
“I was kind of trying to get to that 57, so I was trying to push myself, but then kind of realized that we’re still in a golf tournament, we’re not playing a fun round out here,” Potgieter said, “so I was kind of trying to concentrate when I made those last three birdies, which helped a lot.”
This weekend, play shifts to the Lagos Course for both rounds, a par-71 layout that measures 7,237 yards.
