Sebastian Munoz, a 24-year-old Colombian native, fired an opening-round 9-under 61 at the Old White TPC course, and leads the Greenbrier Classic after 18 holes.
Just two back of Munoz is Davis Love III, who posted his best round of the season, a 7-under 63.
“Everything went right today. I didn’t make every putt, but I hit a lot of really, really solid putts and hit a lot of fairways and greens,” said Love III.
The 53-year-old Love, who recently led the U.S. Ryder Cup team to victory at Hazeltine, last won on the PGA Tour in 2015 at the Wyndham Championship.
Munoz, who is the 410th ranked player in the world, finished with 10 birdies, including a four in a row down the stretch, holes 14 through 17. The Tour rookie hit 11 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens.
Defending champion Danny Lee headlines a group of six players tied for third at 64, along with Graham DeLaet, Nick Taylor, David Lingmerth, Ben Martin, rookie Xander Schauffele.
Patrick Reed shot 4-under 66 and is tied for 13th, while Phil Mickelson finished with a 3-under 67, good for T16. Bubba Watson (69) is at 1-under-par.
Top 10
1 Sebastian Munoz -9
2 Davis Love III -7
T3 Nick Taylor -6
T3 Graham DeLaet -6
T3 Danny Lee -6
T3 Ben Martin -6
T3 David Lingmerth -6
T3 Xander Schauffele -6
T9 David Hearn -5
T9 C.T. Pan -5
Notes
- Bogey-free Rounds: Davis Love III (63), David Lingmerth (64), Danny Lee (64), Graham DeLaet (64), C.T. Pan (65), David Hearn (65), Robert Streb (65), Patrick Reed (66), Scott Stallings (67), and Brian Gay (67).
- Hardest Hole: The par-3 eighth hole played the toughest during the first round, yielding a 3.232 average.
- Easiest Hole: The par-5 17th hole played the easiest at 4.574.
- Withdraw: Grayson Murray withdrew during the first round with an illness.
- Trends: In the six-year history of the Greenbrier Classic, no first-round leader has held on for the win.
Highlights
Quotable
“That’s about as good as it gets. I hit it stiff at the 1st hole, made a nice putt at the 2nd hole, and actually had a look at it at the 3rd hole. Then 4 and 5 I just was rolling it really well, hitting it really well. You know on a day like today you’re going to have to get your good round in. This is as good a scoring conditions as we’re going to get probably for the whole week. I’m glad I took advantage of it.”
–Davis Love III
