What Is the Lowest 18-Hole Golf Score Ever Recorded?

What Is the Lowest 18-Hole Golf Score Ever Recorded?

 

Question: What Is the Lowest 18-Hole Golf Score Ever Recorded? Identifying the lowest 18-hole score ever recorded in the game of golf is a very difficult task because there is no official clearinghouse for such a record. The Guinness Book of World Records does recognize a "world record" in this category, and we'll get to that mark down below; but the Guinness folks only recognize scores posted in competition and on a course that meets minimum-length requirements. Answer: What we can say with certainty is that no round of 54 has ever been recorded in golf … but that a round of 55 has been recorded. There are also at least one instance of a 56 and multiple 57s. So let's list the lowest rounds for which there is documentary evidence:55
There is one 55 known to have been posted, and it was posted by a golfer you might have heard of: Homero Blancas. Blancas played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s, and later on the Champions Tour.

 

In 1962, when he was an amateur and playing in the Premier Invitational, in Longview, Texas, Blancas put together a front nine of 27 and a back nine of 28 for a round of 55. He had 13 birdies and one eagle, and used only 20 putts.

The golf course where Blancas' 55 was posted no longer exists. It was a 9-holer with two different tee boxes on each hole to create a different look for the "front nine" and "back nine," and was a par-70 layout. The course was only slightly longer than 5,000 yards, according to a Golf Digest article about the round, but had tiny, domed greens and out-of-bounds markers that tightly lined every hole.

At one time, Blancas' round of 55 was included in the Guinness book. However, the Guinness people later instituted a requirement that a course must measure at least 6,500 yards for the purposes of this record, and Blancas' 55 was removed from the book.

It remains, however, the only known round of 55 on a golf course that has a regulation par.

56
On Sept. 5, 2007, Jay Osmon posted a round of 56 at Cattails Golf Club in Alamosa, Colo., where he worked as an assistant pro.

Osmon was already the course recordholder at Cattails, having previously shot a 62 from the back tees. During his 56, however, he was playing from a middle set of tees because he was accompanying club members. The tees Osmon played during his 56 were around 6,000 yards in length, and the par was 71.

Osmon had a 26 on the front nine and a 30 on the back nine.

In 2010, Nationwide Tour player Trevor Murphy shot a 56 in a pro-am round prior to the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational on Ohio State University's Gray Course. Although Murphy attested to Golfweek that he putted out every hole, the round is unofficial since it took place in a pro-am. The course was also playing 5,600 yards.

57
Kris Wasylowich of Lethbridge, Alberta, posted a 57 on his home course, Paradise Canyon, in May, 2006. Wasylowich played the front nine in 27, and the back nine in 30.

His 57 was recorded from tees that played 6,800 yards, so it meets the Guinness minimum yardage guideline. But this 57 is not considered the world record by Guinness because it was posted in a friendly round, not during competition.

Another 57 was recorded during competition, however: On July 28, 2010, 17-year-old Bobby Wyatt shot 57 in the Alabama Golf Association State Boys Junior Championship. The round occurred at the Country Club of Mobile, a par-71 course measuring 6,628 yards. Whether Guinness will recognize this as the world record is up in the air and awaiting comment.

58
Which brings us to the rounds recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records: a pair of 58s posted by Jason Bohn and Shigeki Maruyama.

In 2000, Maruyama posted a round of 58 in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier. In 2001, Bohn – then playing on the Canadian Tour but later to join the PGA Tour – shot 58 in the final round to win the Canadian Tour Bayer Championship.

Ryo Ishikawa's name will be added to later editions of the Guinness book, too. On May 2, 2010, Ishikawa carded a 58 in the final round of The Crowns tournament on the Japan Tour. He was playing a course that barely clears the Guinness requirement of 6,500 yards, but clear that minimum the course does. So Ishikawa's round should be added to the book.

Ishikawa's round was the first 58 ever posted on one of the world's major golf tours.

Maruyama, Ishikawa and Bohn are not the only golfers to shoot 58 – tour pros and amateurs alike have recorded more 58s – but they are the only touring professionals to do so in high-level competitive events. Maruyama's and Bohn's 58s are the ones recognized by Guinness, with Ishikawa's to join them in later editions.

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