Munoz leads Byron Nelson with second 60 of season
Sebastian Munoz was standing in the middle of the fairway on the 18th hole thinking about his shot at a 59 in the first round of the Byron Nelson. After missing the green, he became the first player in PGA Tour history with two rounds of 60 in the same season.
Munoz made a nice flop shot from the right of the green, then holed the 12-foot birdie putt to wrap up his 12-under round that included an impressive surge after his only bogey.
“I mean, I wanted to give myself a chance . ... It was 250 (yards) to the pin into the wind. I kind of wanted to hit like a bullet, like a little draw,” Munoz said. “I knew if I want to hit it close, had to be a fade, soft-landed shot. I tried to do that. Overdid it and ended up with a 60, which is really good around here.”
Good for a four-stroke lead over defending champion K.H. Lee, Mito Pereira, Peter Malnati and Justin Lower. Kyle Wilshire, a Monday
qualifier making only his third career PGA Tour start, was alone in sixth after a 65 that included a near hole-inone when he banged the flagstick with his tee shot at the 230-yard, par-3 seventh.
Munoz also had a 60 in the opening round of the RSM Classic at Seaside in Georgia in November, although that was a 10-under score. He went on to finish third.
• Nasa Hataoka shot a bogey-free 7-under 65 to grab an early one-stroke lead in the LPGA Tour’s Cognizant Founders Cup.
Hataoka ignited her round with a 10-foot eagle putt on No. 2 at Upper Montclair Country Club and added five birdies the rest of the way in posting her fifth straight round in the 60s. The 23-year-old is seeking her second straight tour win after winning in Los Angeles last month.
Amy Yang and Giulia Molinaro were tied for second and a shot ahead of Ally Ewing and Ryann O’Toole.
• Steve Stricker shot a 7-under 65 to take a twostroke lead over Miguel Angel
Jimenez and Wes Short Jr. after the opening round of the Regions Tradition, the first of five PGA Tour Champions majors.
Stricker, the 2019 champion, closed his bogey-free round with a birdie on No. 18 at Greystone Golf & Country Club.
• Callum Shinkwin claimed a share of the lead after the first round of DP World Tour’s Soudal Open despite almost pulling out of the European tour event with a wrist injury.
Shinkwin shot 6-under 65 at Rinkven International Golf Club and was tied with Dale Whitnell and Sam Horsfield as the tour returned to Belgium for the first time since 2019.
Nadal goes down with nagging foot injury
With just 10 days to go before the French Open, Rafael Nadal is struggling with an injury again.
Nadal was hampered by a foot problem toward the end of a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 third-round loss to Denis Shapovalov at the Italian Open.
The 35-year-old Nadal missed a large portion of last year with a left foot injury.
“I hurt my foot again with a lot of pain,” Nadal said. “I’m a player living with an injury. It’s nothing new. It’s something that is there, unfortunately. Day by day is difficult.”
Earlier, top-ranked Novak Djokovic was untroubled in a 6-2, 6-2 win over Stan Wawrinka, who was playing only his second tournament after undergoing two surgeries on his left foot.
In the women’s tournament, top-ranked Iga Swiatek was tested before pulling out a 6-4, 6-1 victory over former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka to reach the quarterfinals and extend her winning streak to 25 matches.
World Cup finally coming to America
Rugby’s biggest tournament is finally heading to the United States.
Now comes the hard part for the sport’s leadership: Generating enough interest and sustainability to secure rugby’s place in a crowded U.S. market.
The Rugby World Cup will be staged in the U.S. for the first time after being voted on as the host of the men’s event in 2031 and the women’s tournament two years later.
It marks rugby’s first attempt to move into the wider American sporting consciousness and unlock what World Rugby — the global governing body — regards as an area of untapped potential, in both a commercial and sporting sense.
“The golden nugget that everybody wants to get hold of” was how World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont described America.
Jeudy arrested after domestic dispute
Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy was arrested on a misdemeanor charge after a dispute with his girlfriend at their suburban Denver home and he was being held at the Arapahoe County Jail.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown said there was no physical violence involved in the incident.
• No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Travon Walker signed a four-year, $37.4 million contract with the Jaguars, a deal that includes a $24.4 million signing bonus.
• French cyclist Arnaud Démare beat Caleb Ewan in a photo finish to win a second successive Giro d’Italia stage, while Juan Pedro López kept hold of the leader’s pink jersey after the race’s sixth leg. López maintained his 39-second advantage over Lennard Kämna.
• Lakpa Sherpa broke her own record as the most successful female climber of Mount Everest by reaching the summit of the world’s highest peak for the 10th time. On Saturday, Kami Rita reached the summit for the 26th time, breaking his own record for the most climbs of Everest.