Sebastián

Muñoz

As good as he was at that young age, not even Muñoz himself could have predicted that at 23 he would return to the Country Club of Bogota to win the 2016 Club Colombia Championship as a professional golfer.

By sinking a 3-foot putt for victory, he became the first Colombian to win on the Web.com Tour, sparking wild celebrations from family, friends and countrymen around the 18th green.

“When I made that short putt, I just felt relieved,” he said. “I could not think of anything else because of all the people jumping on me.”

Muñoz was educated at the University of North Texas which is where he first met future LIV Golf teammate Carlos Ortiz.

He excelled at the sport during his senior year and won the Conference USA Championship and earned a Conference USA Men’s Golf individual medal.

He turned professional after graduating in 2015 and returned to South America to play in the PGA Tour Latinoamerica Developmental Series.

Success came early as Muñoz landed his first two wins as a pro at the 2015 Abierto de Buracamanga and Abierto de Club Campestre Medellin, which helped him to gain promotion to Latin America’s main tour.

In February 2016 he was granted a sponsor exemption to play in the Club Colombia Championship in his home town Bogota – and book his place in golfing history.

That win earned him entry to the Web.com [now Korn Ferry] Tour for the rest of 2016 and by finishing 22nd on the money list by the end of the season he was able to step up again, having earned his PGA Tour card for 2017.

His best outing the following year was the 2017 Greenbrier Classic, where he shot a 61 in the opening round and was the overnight leader for all three days, but fell away on Sunday to finish T3.

He returned to the Web.com Tour for 2018 and three top-three finishes helped him to 12th place on the money list and regain his PGA Tour card for the following year.

Sebastián Muñoz captured his first PGA Tour win at the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson.

At the last hole, Muñoz needed to sink a 15-foot birdie putt to force a playoff with leader Sungjae Im, then held his nerve to save par at the first extra hole to win the championship.

“I’m so thrilled to be here and to be the champion,” Muñoz said in his victory speech.

“I will always have a special connection to Jackson, Mississippi because this is the first event I ever played in as a PGA Tour member back in 2016.”

The following year, Muñoz made his debut in the Masters and went into the final day tied for seventh, but a final-round 75 saw him drop to T19, which remains his best finish at Augusta.

There was another big event in 2020 as Muñoz married his wife Daniela in September. Thet live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with their young daughter.

Muñoz went on to represent Colombia in the delayed 2020 Olympic Games, narrowly missing out on a medal by finishing tied for fourth place.

They say lightning doesn’t strike twice but Muñoz managed just that in 2021-22, becoming the first PGA Tour player to shoot a 60 or better twice in the same season.

The fun started in November’s RSM Classic at Sea Island, Georgia, where Muñoz opened with a 60 to lead the tournament at 10-under going into day two.

He eventually finished third with an overall score of 264 after four rounds (18-under total). The following May he was at it again, this time at the AT&T Byron Nelson.

Muñoz was the overnight leader at TPC Craig Ranch after shooting an opening round 60 (12 under) at the Tom Weiskopf-designed course.

But despite keeping his scores in the 60s through all four days to complete a competitive 24-under for the tournament, he had to settle for T3.

Sebastián Muñoz was quick to praise his partnership with new caddie Jose Campra after landing that second 60 of the season at the 2022 Byron Nelson.

“I feel like ever since he got on the bag, we’ve had good vibes,” Munoz said. 

Campra is also a well-respected coach and runs his own academy back in his native Argentina.

“We understand each other,” Muñoz added. “We kind of speak a language that we can both see our shots and our distances.”

Muñoz has played in 135 PGA Tour events and won the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship.

When he announced in February 2023 that he was making the move to LIV, he had achieved a career best 49th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Muñoz was certainly no stranger to the concept of team golf.

He was selected in the International lineup for the 2022 Presidents Cup, remaining unbeaten with two wins and a draw despite the United States ending up winning 17½ to 12½.

In November 2023 he won a silver medal for Colombia at the Pan American Games after just missing out on the gold by one stroke to Mexico’s Abraham Ancer.

Muñoz confirmed he was going to join Torque GC along with Chilean Mito Pereira. That saw them complete an all-Latin American team as they linked up with captain Joaquin Niemann, who is also from Chile, plus Muñoz’s old University of North Texas buddy, Carlos Ortiz, an Olympian with Mexico.

Muñoz made a flying start to his LIV Golf career with an eighth-place finish in the opening event of 2023 in Mayakoba, Mexico, and was runner-up in his third appearance at Orlando, where Torque went on to win their first team event.

There were three more team wins and a further three finishes in the top four for Muñoz to celebrate before the end of the season, all of which helped him achieve a highly respectable 11th place in the individual standings, with Torque third in the Team Championship.

Muñoz showed strong consistency in 2024 with 11 finishes in the top half of the leaderboard from 13 events.

To begin with, let’s give him his full name: Juan Sebastián Muñoz Amaya. Muñoz is the paternal name while Amaya comes from his mother’s side. His preferred first name is Sebastián, which is straightforward.

To pronounce his second name correctly you have to extend the sound of the U and pay attention to the tilde over the N which gives an ‘enye’ sound in the Spanish language. So to hit the spot correctly you have to say it in two parts, ‘Moon-yoze'.