McKINNEY, Texas — On Thursday, golf came pretty easy for Sebastian Munoz, the University of North Texas product who fired his second 60 of the season. In the process, the Colombian native became the first player in PGA Tour history to accomplish that feat.
In posting a 69 on Friday, Munoz admitted things simply didn’t fall into place the way they did on Thursday.
“It was not perfect golf. (Thursday) was super easy, (Friday) was a little tougher,” Munoz said. “We had a lot more in between numbers, we struggled with the speed of the greens on the front. It’s tough to back a 60, but I feel like I did a good job of closing the round and going out with a 69.”
Despite a sluggish pace and scorching temperatures on Saturday, however, golf seemed to come easy again for Munoz, who entered the week ranked 73rd in the world, behind names like Joohyung Kim and Dean Burmester.
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After sinking a nearly 40-foot putt on the second hole for birdie, Munoz then went one better on the 321-yard sixth hole. He pushed a drive into a bunker, but then holed out for eagle, regaining the solo lead mid-afternoon.
What a shot from @JSMunozGolf! 🦅
He leads by 2 @ATTByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/jWtEnlxEzD
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2022
As for the shot, Munoz said it’s a facet of his game he’s been attending to.
“I’ve been working on my bunker game for a little bit now and, I don’t know, it just kind of looked like one of those that I practice a lot,” he said. “So when I saw it and I just kind of the felt that it was going to be a good shot.”
After he made it, Munoz’s buddy Joaquin Niemann — who was playing in the group in front of him and shot a 65 to finish the day two shots off the lead — made sure to acknowledge the eagle.
“We have a great friendship, I believe it’s a true one. He kind of was giving me some claps and blowing some kisses, just keep it friendly between us,” Munoz said. “And that’s kind of what I like about our group, like our group of friends, that we just kind of encourage each other to push a little harder, go a little further, prove ourselves a little more, get in that spot. So I think it’s going to be quite fun tomorrow.”
After getting the lead back, Munoz didn’t relinquish it, finishing with a 66 to go to 21 under for the tournament, although there were plenty in hot pursuit. Jordan Spieth, for example, kept trending in the right direction, as he followed Thursday’s 67 and Friday’s 65 with a scorching 64 on Saturday to keep the pressure applied. He’s one shot back of Munoz, and one ahead of Niemann.
Spieth, who commented on the ease of the course setup on Friday, said he was surprised it was even easier on Saturday.
“I was shocked that they just said, ‘You know what, we’re just going to lean into these low scores and see who can kind of shoot the lowest.’ And it’s exciting for the fans. For us, you would like to see the course show a little bit of teeth,” he said. “But that ninth tee box is back further today which makes it a lot harder hole and then they moved a couple of the shorter par-4s up to make it pretty exciting. So you still had to hit shots where you’re looking on those holes, because they were tougher pins, but overall I think tomorrow will probably be set up the most difficult. I haven’t really looked at the wind and normally the wind’s what matters here in Texas.”
Spieth’s 64 was impressive, but it was three shots off the low round of the day, which came from James Hahn. After posting birdies on five of six holes before the turn, Hahn had a four-hole stretch on the back on which he went 5 under.
The 40-year-old, who last won at the 2016 Wells Fargo, was asked if he recently found a tip that’s helped transform his game.
“I’d kind of like to keep it a secret just in case Justin Thomas or Jordan Spieth’s watching,” Hahn said. “But basically just to have the ball come off more solid, take it a little bit more straighter back and accelerate through the ball. It’s my tendency, especially when the greens get really fast, is to somewhat de-cel because they’re so quick and worried about the second putt.
“I feel like it just played easy out there for me, but everyone’s shooting, 9-, 10-under, someone is every day, so I just felt like why not me.”
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