Sergio

Garcia

The 42-year-old Spaniard endured tough weather conditions over the weekend at Bay Hill, going 75-74 to finish at 6-over 294. He’ll make his 22nd start at TPC Sawgrass, where he’s made 17 consecutive cuts dating back to 2004 and 19 cuts overall. He has seven top 10s, including a win in 2008, a solo second in 2007, T-2 in 2015, and a third in 2014. Garcia captured the 2008 title after shooting 5-under 283 and beating Paul Goydos in a playoff. In 2007, he finished at 9-under 279 and was two strokes back of winner Phil Mickelson. In 2015, he finished T-2 after losing a playoff to Rickie Fowler. In 2013, Garcia shared the 54-hole lead and was tied with Tiger Woods at the 71st hole, but the Spaniard hit two balls into the water on No. 17, making quadruple bogey. He followed up by hitting his tee shot into the water at 18 to finish T-8, six strokes back of Woods. He exacted some revenge in 2017 with a hole-in-one at No. 17 during the first round. Last year he finished T-9 to become the all-time money leader in the Players ($5,805,528).

Finishing in a tie for 12th at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic and a tie for 24th at the Saudi International, the Spaniard struck the ball adequately overseas. This followed up his 2021 which saw him finish in a tie for 25th at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT and a tie for seventh at the WWT Championship. Possessing a tournament scoring average of 70.28, the 42-year-old has a mixed bag of results at Riviera. Primarily due to his putting, if Garcia can find some sort of comfort on the bumpy poa annua surfaces, he has the potential to factor. In fact, of his 13 previous starts in Hogan’s Alley, Garcia has gained strokes putting on four occurrences with those results reading solo-sixth, T-46, T-4, and T-4. As is usually the case with the former Masters Champion, if the flat stick cooperates, he should have some sort of chance come Sunday afternoon.

The Spaniard posted laps of 64-69-67-69, was in the top 10 after every round, but after being T3, three back after 18 holes, ends up eight swings back of defender and champion Viktor Hovland. He was one of 29 first-timers at the Mayakoba and one of two to finish in the top 10 (Matthew Wolff) after 21 birdies against four bogeys and one double. The Texas resident, who is not in the published field at this coming week’s Houston Open, arrived off a T25 at the no-cut CJ CUP in Vegas three weeks ago, is a cumulative 32-under in these last two events, and records his first top 10 since T6 at last season’s BMW Championship in the FedExCup Playoffs four starts ago, where he was also in the top 10 after every round.

After kicking off his tourney debut with 64-69-67, the Spaniard was T5, where he ended, but began four back of leader Matthew Wolff. Wolff cooperated with an untimely 74, but Hovland took the pole with a day-low career-low 62 and now he’s six back. There were 29 first-timers at Mayakoba to begin the week and Garcia is the only one currently in the top 10, looking to become the first debutant winner here since Harris English in 2014, and is chasing his 12th TOUR title in 392 events. The Texas resident, who won last season’s stand-alone Sanderson Farms as a pre-tourney 60/1 outright and 54-hole co-leader, also in his debut, owns six come-from-behind victories on TOUR, with his largest final-round deficit overcome being his maiden win at the 2001 Mastercard Colonial, where he came from five back (T7) with 7-under 63 to win by two.

Beginning off No. 10 tee, the Spaniard birdied 13 and 15, gave them back with double bogey-6 at 16 (2 penalty strokes), which he characterized as, “a good 6" post-round (link below), and scribbled down two more circles at 7 and 9. Thru 36 holes, his lone misfire is the above-mentioned double, outpaced by 11 birdies, and has landed 29/36 greens in regulation (80.56%). The 41-year-old owns 11 TOUR victories in 391 events, most recently last season’s stand-alone Sanderson Farms, also in the fall portion of the wraparound season, where he was T7 (5 back) at halftime and a 54-hole co-leader (68-68-66-67).

The Spaniard took advantage of ball-in-hand with 10 (of 14) fairways hit. From there, he smothered 14 greens and parlayed that into a seven-pack of birdies. “I think there were obviously a couple shots here and there that I could have hit better, but it’s difficult to hit every shot pretty much like you want throughout 18 holes. I drove the ball quite well for pretty much the whole day. My irons were in pretty good shape and gave myself a lot of chances, so I was able to roll it quite nicely.” This is Garcia’s debut at the event but he’s having no troubles getting adjusted to the course, El Camaleon GC.

The 41-year-old Spaniard is looking to pick up where he left off in his last start at The CJ Cup @ Summit, where he finished T-25. Las Vegas provided a welcome rebound opportunity for Garcia, who missed the cut in his title defense at the Sanderson Farms Championship in his first start of the 2021-22 season. In September, Garcia set a new mark in the 43rd Ryder Cup, where he was a captain’s pick and went 3-1-0 at Whistling Straits to extend his record for most points all-time to 28 1/2. Last season, Garcia was T-14 on the FedExCup standings and reached the Tour Championship for the 11th time in his career. He made 15 cuts in 24 starts with four top 10s including his win at the Sanderson Farms, where he shot 19-under 269 to beat Peter Malnati by a stroke for his 11th PGA Tour victory.

The Spaniard, who checked in off of a missed cut by one as defender at the Sanderson Farms two weeks ago, finished T21 last year on a sponsor exemption across town at Shadow Creek (71-70-72-69). On eight (of 14) fairways and 15 greens in regulation, he squared a lone bogey-5 at hole 5 (missed par-saver from 6'11"), camouflaged by six birdies at 1, 5-7, 11 (33'0") and 12, and an eagle-3 at 18 from 18'4". At the time he signed his card, the 41-year-old posted 1.599 SG: Off-the-Tee, 1.488 SG: Approach, 0.850 SG: Around, and eked out a 0.195 SG: Putting, lowlighted by a missed birdie try at 3 from 5'11", and a 3-putt par at the par-5 14th from 37'11".

Having played the week immediately after the Ryder Cup, a letdown seemed inevitable for the European stalwart. Missing the cut by a single-stroke at the Country Club of Jackson, Garcia struck the ball competently only to bet let down by his short-game. Making his third appearance in THE CJ CUP this week at The Summit Club, the 41-year-old will look to improve on his record in this tournament. With finishes of T-60 in 2019 and T-21 in 2020, Garcia was unable to figure out Nine Bridges or Shadow Creek. Set to begin his tournament at 11:06 a.m. PDT, Garcia is paired with Cameron Davis and Kevin Kisner in the first-round tomorrow.