Muñoz sizzles in Singapore

Finally, Sebastian Muñoz delivered his best round of the LIV Golf season as he opened with a six-under-par 65 to post a one-shot lead at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore Friday.

Brooks Koepka and Abraham Ancer were among a group of six players in a tie for second with Joaquin Niemann one of eight players who carded a 67.

Muñoz admitted that he’s not having a great year as he finished in a tie for 38th in Adelaide last week. His best finish was ninth in Las Vegas in February, when he was seven under after three rounds.

“For the past couple of events, I haven’t been able to hit it where I want to, so it just makes golf a lot tougher,” Muñoz, who finished with seven birdies, said.

“I felt like the first round in Adelaide (one over) kind of hit me hard. Both my teammates played really good, and I kind of played poorly towards the end, and I kind of got a little rhythm the next two rounds and now here with a better round.”

“So, I feel like I’m definitely learning what the issue was, and I feel like I’m addressing it the proper way, and I feel like we’re in a good way.”

Muñoz said the issue has been the rhythm in his swing, but there was little evidence of that in the first round, which after starting on eight took off with back-to-back birdies on nine and 10.

A bogey on the par-4 13th was the only blip, and the 31-year-old was five under through the next nine holes.

Of the chasing pack, Koepka’s three-putt bogey on 16 was the difference between him and a share of the lead, but having bemoaned his ability on the greens ahead of the opening day, the American felt his performance had been “okay.”

“I played pretty solid,” Koepka said.

“Really didn’t do anything other than a three-putt on 16. That was kind of disappointing. But yeah, I just played really solid.”