Frankie Capan III’s college coach at Florida Gulf Coast, Andrew Danna, says this about his former player: “At any time he can rattle off as many birdies in a row as you can possibly imagine.”
On Thursday at the Veritex Bank Championship, that’s exactly what the 24-year-old Capan, in his second season on the Korn Ferry Tour, did en route to nearly tying the lowest professional round ever.
Capan played his first 16 holes in 13 under at Texas Rangers Golf Club a par-71, 7,010-yard layout in Arlington, Texas. With the par-5 18th still to play, Capan had in his sights on 57, the mark achieved by Cristobal del Solar two months ago at the KFT’s Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia.
Capan ended pup closing with consecutive pars to card a 13-under 58 – and he only has a three-shot lead over second-place Trent Phillips, who shot 61, while last week’s winner, Tim Widing, is third at 9 under, four back.
The round fell a stroke shy of del Solar’s 13-under 57 and the 11-under 57 shot by David Carey on the Alps Tour in 2019. Del Solar’s 57 came with a bit of caveat, too, as Country Club de Bogota’s Pacos Course, a par 70, was playing at 6,254 yards – and at about 8,600 feet above sea level.
Stephan Jaeger held the previous KFT record of 12-under 58, recorded at the 2016 Ellie Mae Classic. Five other 58s have been recorded on world-ranked tours – Jim Furyk (PGA Tour), Alex del Rey (Challenge Tour), Ryo Ishikawa (Japan Tour), S.H. Kim (Japan Tour) and Jason Bohn (Canadian Tour). Bryson DeChambeau had a 58 of his own last year at LIV Greenbrier.
Capan’s day began with birdies at Nos. 2-5 before the Stillwater, Minnesota, native caught fire with an eagle at the par-5 ninth followed by seven straight birdies.
Capan began his college career at Alabama before transferring to Florida Gulf Coast. He turned pro in 2022, yet remained amateur through that summer. He then advanced through all four stages of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School, medaling at two of the sites, to earn his KFT card for the first time last season. He finished No. 51 on the points list as a rookie.
This season, Capan sits No. 30 in points, right on the bubble for earning a PGA Tour card at the end of the year. He had posted back-to-back top-10s entering this week’s start.
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