LIV Golf Indianapolis has firmly delivered in the opening round but while the spotlight is so often on Joaquin Niemann, this time he Torque GC teammate Sebastian Munoz has taken centre-stage.
Niemann played well himself as he went out alongside Bryson DeChambeau and shot a fine round of seven under to sit within the top five. DeChambeau, meanwhile, couldn’t quite get his best going but still managed to shoot four under.
Still, while all eyes were on Niemann and DeChambeau, it was the Chilean’s Torque teammate Munoz who took the crowd’s breath away.
Munoz has been relatively quiet throughout the year on LIV but burst into life in the USA to fire in a stunning opening round of 59.
Quite remarkably, Munoz made a double bogey on the 5th hole, his only mistake of the round, to cost himself a chance at a 57.
Nevertheless, the day was a whirlwind and his captain, Joaquin Niemann, had plenty to say afterwards.
Joaquin Niemann gives view on Sebastian Munoz’s 59 at LIV Golf Indianapolis
Every so often, we see these remarkable rounds of golf and it really is quite special to witness.
Regardless of your thoughts on the LIV Tour and the 54-hole format with shotgun starts, shooting 59 is seriously impressive.
Indeed, for Niemann, seeing Munoz deliver in such fashion put a big smile on his face despite being in a position at one point to hit a 59 himself.
“Well, I think on 11 or 12, I think on 12, I saw he was like 8-under and Dom told me that he started with a double and then eight birdies in a row. Felt like, yeah, he’s hot, and he’s a really hot player. We’ve seen that a lot of times,” Niemann admitted.
“Obviously he made it, it’s pretty cool, and it’s nice to have one of those runs. Now I can’t say that I’m the only one on the team with a 59. He’s also there, so yeah, it’s fun.”
Asked about the experience of playing alongside home favourite DeChambeau, Niemann admitted it was something he relished as he praised the crowds.
“Yeah, I was saying, it’s amazing. Since I arrived to the golf course, when I left the locker room and went to the golf course, I saw the amount of people, and I was super impressed. I actually didn’t have any expectations, and yeah, they definitely went past those,” Niemann continued.
“It was a lot of fun, especially obviously they love Bryson, and playing with him, you can feel how much of an atmosphere was out there. It was a lot of fun.”
Joaquin Niemann shares his thoughts on winning the LIV Golf individual title
As it stands, the individual title is Niemann’s to lose after yet another stunning year on LIV.
His nearest contender is the Spanish star, Jon Rahm.
However, Niemann is much closer to landing the honour than Rahm this time around and he’s admitted it’s something he has his eye on.
“It’s definitely on my mind,” he continued. “It’s something that I really focus and try not to think that way. I feel like whenever I play my best golf and my best swings is whenever I’m present in the moment. I feel like I’m not thinking about what could happen. I’m not thinking about points. I’m not chasing any points, any score. I’m just hitting the shot that is right in front of me.
“It’s kind of like in a way, I’ve got to try not to get in my way, so yeah, sometimes it’s easy to say, but it’s hard to do it sometimes. But I’m working on it. Today was one of those days, it was good. I felt like I hit really good shots. It was a lot of fun playing with Bryson as well, so yeah, it was a fun day.”
Niemann is out on his own with five wins on LIV this season and a sixth this week would underline that he’s very much the main man over there right now.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
