Golf

A day to forget for Rory McIlroy after first round 73 in California

Sebastian Munoz cards two eagles to take early Zozo Championship lead

Rory McIlroy let his frustrations get the better of him after snapping his golf club during the opening round of the Zozo Championship in California. Video: Reuters / NBC Golf
Fri Oct 23 2020 - 11:21

Sebastian Munoz recovered from a late double bogey to take an early lead at the Zozo Championship in California after an opening round featuring two eagles.

The Colombian only had five pars across his opening round, starting with a bogey and three birdies before going birdie-eagle-bogey-par to reach the turn at four under.

A wild tee shot on the 14th led to a double bogey before a second eagle to finish the round on an eight-under 64 to lead by one shot.

Tyrrell Hatton is tied for second after a 65 along with American Justin Thomas, the former PGA Championship winner who picked up four shots in the last three holes.

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It was a day to forget for Rory McIlroy whose round of 73 left him tied for 64th, while Tiger Woods reached the turn in three over and dropped another shot to finish on 76.

The field has no cut and will be the last event for many of the players before the rescheduled Masters from November 12-15th.

Collated first round scores (USA unless stated, par 72):

64 Sebastian Munoz (Col)

65 Justin Thomas, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)

66 Brian Harman, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Kevin Kisner, Lanto Griffin, Harris English

67 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Smith (Aus), Alex Noren (Swe), Justin Rose (Eng), Mark Hubbard, Patrick Cantlay, Mackenzie Hughes (Can)

68 Jason Day (Aus), Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Shaun Norris (Rsa), Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn), Joel Dahmen, Russell Henley, Jon Rahm (Spa), Sungjae Im (Kor), Tyler Duncan

69 Matthew Wolff, Jason Kokrak, Xander Schauffele, Ryan Palmer, Andrew Landry, Webb Simpson, Daniel Berger, Tony Finau, Chan Kim, Brendon Todd, Paul Casey (Eng), Corey Conners (Can), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng)

70 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar, Cameron Champ, Takumi Kanaya (a) (Jpn), Kevin Na, Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Jim Herman, Nick Taylor (Can), Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth

71 Naoki Sekito (Jpn), Viktor Hovland (Nor), Marc Leishman (Aus), Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Tom Hoge

72 Phil Mickelson, Danny Lee (Nzl), Brendan Steele, Richy Werenski, Carlos Oritz (Mex), Billy Horschel, Brad Kennedy (Aus)

73 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Rory McIlroy (Irl), Harry Higgs, Gunn Charoenkul (Tha)

74 Talor Gooch, Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Mikumu Horikawa (Jpn), Kevin Streelman

75 Shugo Imahira (Jpn), Adam Hadwin (Can)

76 Tiger Woods, Michael Thompson

77 Adam Long