….. Trump Doral, Florida
Spaniard Sergio Garcia superbly tamed the ‘Blue Monster’ using a 25-year-old ‘good friend’ putter just a week out from The Masters to be sharing the lead after the opening round of LIV Miami at Trump National.
Garcia, 44, wearing unmissable bright red shorts, produced the only bogey-free round among the 54 starters with a five-under 67 to share the lead with Americans Talor Gooch and Peter Uihlein in glorious conditions in suburban Miami.
Just a shot further back at four-under is Garcia’s fellow Augusta National winning colleague Bubba Watson along with Zimbabwean Scott Vincent, South African Dean Burmester and American Matt Wolff.
Garcia has won 36 times around the world capped by his 2017 Masters play-off triumph over fellow European Justin Rose however he’s yet to break through for the ‘W’ on the LIV Tour though he went awfully close earlier this year only to be beaten in a play-off by red-hot Chilean Joaquin Niemann at the LIV Mayakoba.
Getting into @TheMasters mode as @TheSergioGarcia tames the ‘Blue Monster’ wearning the brightest of red shorts
Sergio also the only #LIVGolf @fireballsgc_ on day not to drop a shot
Read: https://t.co/JNJQBtOCvH
✅ @TOURMISS https://t.co/IstuPk90wQ
— Golf & Science News (@TOURMISS) April 5, 2024
Garcia is among 13 LIV golfers teeing-up this week in Miami who’ll be also heading next week to the Masters, and the father-of-two could not have asked for a better opener ahead of the year’s maiden major.
And he said it helped being bogey-free with his decision to refurbish the putter he used 25 years ago when he was a rookie and played like it was 1999 on Friday.
Garcia said he arranged for the Scotty Cameron staff to clean up his putter from 1999, when he challenged Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship at Medinah as a then 19-year-old and later that year played in his first Ryder Cup.
“I decided to go back to old school and I got my putter from 1999 that Scotty (Cameron) kind of fixed and look pretty again”, said Garcia.
“I have good memories from using the putter and I did a lot of good things with that putter, and hopefully can keep on putting like I did today. I used it last year, probably two or three events towards the end of the year and before I sent it to get it fixed and stuff.
“Overall, it was a solid round. Nothing too spectacular. Felt like I drove the ball nicely, hit a lot of greens. I wasn’t super sharp with my irons other than a handful of shots here and there. But the ones that I missed I got a couple good up-and-downs, and then I rolled a couple birdies, a couple nice birdies here and there. That kind of pretty much sums it up”.
Gooch is once again off to an impressive start with the 32-year-old Oklahoma golfer a winner three times last year that enarned him the 2023 LIV money-list #1 title.
“I’m going to keep doing what I did last year”, said Gooch. “Even though it didn’t work, I’m going to keep trying to shoot good scores. The rule of 67 worked today and I’m going to keep trying to shoot as many 67s as I can and eventually all of that will take care of itself.
“There’s nothing I can do to influence people, unfortunately. Good golf is all I can control, so I’m going to keep focusing on that.”
Feeling in that Masters mode is Watson and after speaking ahead of tee-off with fellow Augusta National member Phil Mickelson.
“Phil (Mickelson) had a good comment as this golf course reminds me a lot like Augusta because of the fact it’s shot-making”, said Watson.
“If you get out of play you can still hit the shot from being out of play because there is room but it is very diffcult
“So, until he said that I didn’t think about that way and then I came out here today and just kind of play solid golf and somehow I shot under par”.
In contrast, former US Open Graeme McDowell struggled in posting a disappointing two-over par 74 that included five birdies but also an equal number of bogeys and a hurtful 17th hole double-bogey.
The Range Goats trio of Uihlein, Wolf and Watson lead the team format by an impressive five shots at 13-under from the Legion X111 trio of reigning Masters champ Jon Rahm, Tyrell Hatton and American Caleb Surratt.
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