SEBASTIAN MUNOZ SHOOTS 59 AT LIV GOLF INDIANAPOLIS
Sebastian Munoz recorded the third sub-60 round in LIV Golf history, stunningly overcoming a double bogey to shoot a 12-under-par 59 to open LIV Golf Indianapolis on Friday in Westfield, Ind.
The Colombian set The Club at Chatham Hills ablaze with 14 birdies, including on 13 of his final 14 holes. Munoz stood at 1 over par after his double bogey at No. 5 (his fourth hole), but he rattled off eight birdies in a row.
After a par at the par-3 14th, he birdied his final five holes, knocking in a short putt at No. 1 for the historic round.
He’ll take just a three-shot lead over Dustin Johnson into the weekend.
Bryson DeChambeau (2023 LIV Golf Greenbrier) and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann (2024 LIV Golf Mayakoba) were the only others in the league’s brief history to shoot sub-60.
“Amazing round,” Munoz said. “I started par-par-birdie, feeling normal. I just tried to go low, then a double hits me. I just kind of stayed positive, made a couple birdies and kind of made a run and we made eight straight.
“I made a great putt on 17 and 18 to keep it going and a really good wedge shot here on 1 to finish it up.”
It was Munoz’s lowest competitive round, as his caddie said he’s shot 60 twice in his career.
The final putt was no gimme.
“The break was a little tricky so I just didn’t want to mess it up. I had missed some short ones before, so I just really tried to focus, and at the moment just hit it as smooth as I could, and it went in, so it was great.”
Munoz, 32, has yet to win on the LIV Golf circuit but is seventh in the season standings and would love his first victory to come in the regular-season finale.
Niemann, who has five wins this year, has a 12.27-point lead over Spaniard Jon Rahm in the race for the individual championship. Niemann is part of a tie for third at 7-under 64 with Patrick Reed, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Australia’s Cameron Smith. Rahm settled for a 4-under 67.
Meanwhile, Johnson is hoping to finish his season on a high note after doing no better than a tie for fifth all season. His 10-birdie, one-bogey round would have been the standout if not for Munoz.
“I’ve still got a few more tournaments this year (outside LIV), so it’s not like it’s that much pressure on me,” Johnson said. “But obviously I always want to win. That’s the goal. That’s why I’m out here. I still feel like I have the game to compete at the highest level.
“Yeah, it would be nice to finish off the year with a win, but obviously there’s two more rounds and a lot of good players and still 36 holes to go.”
Munoz and Niemann are teammates on Torque GC, so their low rounds boosted Torque to 23 under and a four-shot lead in the team competition. Johnson’s 4Aces GC (19 under) is second and Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC (15 under) is third.
JEONGEUN LEE5 RIDES BIRDIE STREAK TO PORTLAND SECOND-ROUND LEAD
South Korea’s Jeongeun Lee5 parlayed five straight birdies on Friday into a one-stroke lead at 12-under-par 132 through two rounds of the Standard Portland (Ore.) Classic.
Her hot streak at Columbia Edgewater Country Club began on the par-5 fifth. When she completed her run at the ninth hole, she sat at 12 under for the tournament. She added a birdie on the 12th and a bogey at No. 13 to finish at 5-under-par 67 on the day. Gurleen Kaur and Australia’s Grace Kim are one shot back.
“I wanted to make as many chances to birdie,” Lee5 said. “Starting on hole 5, it was a par 5, so it seemed there was more of an opportunity to birdie, so I tried to focus on that. With the start of that birdie, I think I was able to have that momentum and great energy to continue making birdies until hole 9. In the second half, I had a mistake on my tee shot at hole 10, but I was able to save par and I think I was able to end my round well overall.”
Lee5 has yet to take home an LPGA event championship, though she does have seven top-10 finishes to her credit.
The 36-year-old’s best finish this season was a tie for 16th at the Mexico Riviera Maya Open in May.
“I’m sure all of the players have the same or similar thoughts, but when we are playing well, we expect it to continue,” Lee5 said. “So, I want to really concentrate and focus going into the weekend. The past two rounds I had great energy, good shots, and good putts, so I want to continue this throughout the weekend and hopefully have a great tournament.”
Kim fired a 7-under 65 — notching six birdies, one eagle and one bogey — to tie Thailand’s Jaravee Boonchant for the day’s second-best round. Kaur stayed in second place for the second consecutive day as she posted five birdies and a bogey on her way to a 68.
“I feel like this is probably the best two rounds that I’ve had on the LPGA like before the weekend as well, so I’m just really excited for that,” Kaur said. “Obviously I want to continue the momentum for the weekend.”
Three players are tied for fourth at 10 under: Japan’s Akie Iwai (67), Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn (67) and South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai (68).
Rounding out the Top 10 are four golfers sitting at 9 under. Germany’s Aline Krauter shot a second-round 66 to climb into a tie with Yealimi Noh (67), Amelia Lewis (68) and China’s Miranda Wang (70).
First-round leader Adela Cernousek, a rookie out of France, fell into a tie for 27th with her second-day score of 3-over 75. On the flip side, Rose Zhang fired an 8-under 64 — the day’s best round — to offset her 3-over 75 in the first round to share 27th place with Cernousek and 11 others.
Defending champion Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand shot a 74 and missed the cut at 3-over 147.
Juli Inkster, 65, came up just short in her bid to become the oldest player to make a 36-hole cut in an LPGA event. Inkster bogeyed Nos. 12 and 13 to finish at 2-over for the round and 1-under 143 for the tournament – one shot on the wrong side of the cut line.
MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ, STEVEN ALKER SHARE LEAD IN CALGARY
Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain and Steven Alker of New Zealand are tied atop the leaderboard after one round of the Rogers Charity Classic on Friday in Calgary.
Jimenez and Alker each posted 7-under-par 63 at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club. And it’s fitting that they’re ahead of the pack in Canada, as Jimenez and Alker entered the week Nos. 1 and 3 in the Charles Schwab Cup race, too.
There are seven events remaining in the PGA Tour Champions’ regular season before the three-tournament playoffs commence, and Alker will try to apply pressure on Jimenez as they vie for positioning.
Jimenez posted a bogey-free round with four of his seven birdies on the back nine. He hit less than half the fairways in regulation (6 of 13) but went 5-for-5 scrambling.
He’s won four tournaments this season, including one major, the Kaulig Companies Championship.
“It’s experience,” Alker said of Jimenez, per the Calgary Herald. “Miguel’s won all over the world, and he’s still winning now. So it just goes to show you he’s in good shape. Miguel’s always worked hard on his game and stayed in shape, and that’s why he’s doing well right now.”
For his part, Alker birdied five of his last eight holes to go low on Friday. His victory at the Cologuard Classic in March was his only win of the year.
They are one stroke ahead of Tommy Gainey and Shane Bertsch, who posted 64s. Gainey turned 50 on Wednesday and went bogey-free in the first round of his first PGA Tour Champions event.
Five players are tied for fifth at 5-under 65: Doug Barron, Tag Ridings, Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez, Australia’s Richard Green and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen.
The low Canadian Friday was Wes Martin, who shot a 3-under 67. Among other Canadians, Mike Weir posted an even-par 70 while Stephen Ames and Gordon Burns each struggled to a 1-over 71.
“We only get (to play in Canada) once a year on this tour, you know, so it’s great,” Weir said before the tournament. “Looking forward to great fan support on the weekend and I like this course. So hopefully I can get myself in the mix on Sunday.”
ROBERT MACINTYRE BUILDS LEAD TO 5 STROKES AT BMW CHAMPIONSHIP
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre will take a five-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler into the weekend at the BMW Championship after firing a bogey-free 64 on Friday in Owings Mills, Md.
MacIntyre’s 6-under-par round followed a sterling 62 to open the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs at Caves Valley Golf Club. Now at 14-under 126, MacIntyre is halfway home to his third PGA Tour victory after capturing the Canadian and Scottish Opens last year.
He said he doesn’t recall having a lead through 36 holes as large as this one.
“Not as a professional, I don’t think. But I’ve had it before as an amateur,” MacIntyre said. “Yeah, again, it’s only 36 holes gone. There’s a long way to go. I’m comfortable with who I am. I’m comfortable with the team around me, and I’m comfortable on this golf course. Just go and play golf.”
Scheffler made five birdies and no bogeys in his round of 65, capped with a difficult two-putt par from 73 feet on the last hole.
“A lot of slope,” Scheffler said of the situation. “It was one of those putts, the higher up I got it towards the fringe, the more it was going to break, so I didn’t know if I was going to need to chip it to get it close or not and decided to kind (of) accept maybe a longer putt for par, and did a really good job of getting a nice lag in there close to the hole.”
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (8 under) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (7 under) are third and fourth, respectively, after they each shot 64 Friday.
Maverick McNealy joined the 64 brigade and moved to 6 under for the tournament, tied with Michael Kim (66) and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (69) for fifth.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy improved by four shots from Round 1 to 2, his 66 lifting him to 4 under par.
They’re all looking way, way up at MacIntyre, who turned in a card with three birdies on each nine. While his Thursday round was marked by a multitude of long putts, he only had two of those on Friday: a 17 1/2-foot birdie at No. 4 and a sweeping 29-footer at No. 14.
Instead, MacIntyre relied on his approaches to take him a long way. He led the field in strokes gained: approach the green and hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation.
“It’s just about picking smart shots, smart targets and then just dealing with what comes,” MacIntyre said.
Aberg, who birdied three of his last five holes Friday, is trying to get back on track after he followed a win at the Genesis Invitational in February with a bumpy summer.
“I’ve kind of gotten away from some bad, poor habits in my swing that I did sort of early spring, early summer which I didn’t really like,” Aberg said. “Definitely gotten better at that and definitely swinging it better now than I did a couple of months ago, so I’m pleased to see that coming around a little bit. It’s a nice time for it.”
Only the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of this tournament will advance to next week’s Tour Championship. Once they’re there, everyone will start at even par, as the tour eliminated the controversial “starting strokes” format.
Kim entered the week 42nd in points and is projected to jump to No. 26 in his current position. England’s Harry Hall, currently 45th, is projected to snag the 30th and final spot; he’s tied for eighth at 5 under after a 67 Friday.
“I like to look at the numbers,” Hall said, “and I know if I can just average gaining 1.2 strokes a round, then it equates to playing really good golf and getting really far in the FedEx Cup.”
McIlroy doesn’t have to worry about making the cut for next week. He’s No. 2 behind Scheffler and played with the World No. 1 in the first two rounds this week.
McIlroy overcame an early double bogey with three straight birdies at Nos. 9-11 and an excellent eagle at the par-5 16th, where his second shot settled inside 8 feet of the pin.
“I think I’m just playing my own tournament at this point,” McIlroy said. “… I just want to try to play a good weekend and feel a little bit better about my game going into the Tour Championship.”
