Sergio García took to his old TPC Boston manual that he had lying around the house, he brushed the dust off and put it into practice. Clockwork. In his first twenty rounds on the New England course his average score was a 68.55. This Friday, in the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, second playoff of the FedEX Cup, he shot a 68. A metronome.
It’s pretty audacious to classify a round of golf as easy, but that is precisely how it looked on García’s day at Norton. He shot a 68 and could have been hard-pressed to do even more. The only great save that should be noted in his ‘could have’ was on the 8th hole, his second-to-last hole, where he sank a magnificent putt from two meters out for par. On the contrary, he missed two clear opportunities along the way for birdie from less than two meters out, both par 5s (18th and 7th holes). There were 68 shots and could have definitely been less.
García played from tee to green with a ruling pen. He only missed one fairway and three greens. Consequence: it’s the fifth best long game of the tournament after the first 18 holes. According to PGA Tour statistics, Sergio is up three shots from tee to green from the average score of the tournament, however, he lost one and a half shots on the greens. The first round of Sergio Garcia in Boston has led to be one of the favorites to win.
The golfer from Borriol is now in 20th place in the rankings, head to head with some of world golf’s finest. Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson are also at -3. They are all three shots from the two leaders, James Hahn and Ryan Moore.
Strangely enough, they both played in the afternoon, like Sergio. Keep an eye out on Moore because he’s making a lot of noise in the playoffs, ready to give Davis Love III a run for his money in the process of deciding on the elections for the Ryder. Indeed, USA win are paid now in the Ryder Cup odds of William Hill bookmakers 1.61 for every euro wagered.
Hahn and Moore have a one-shot advantage on Paul Casey, Fabian Gómez, Jhonattan Vegas and Brian Stuard, while other important players like Jim Furyk are two shots away, who are also fighting for their invitations to the Ryder, Adam Scott and Argentinian golfer Emiliano Grillo, who’s been showing great form these past weeks.
He who didn’t get off on the right foot was Jason Day (-1). The Number 1 in the world was not on point in his golf game this morning. He had a hard time once again with his long game. He caught six fairways and twelve greens. That being said, he can brag about having hit the longest drive of the day after sending the ball 354 yards out on the 14th hole. Of course, he made a birdie and was very close to getting the eagle.
One golfer who was not quite able to deliver with good rounds was Rory McIIroy (PAR). This time, the enormous mess on the 12th hole that cost him a triple bogey was to blame. The ex Number 1 was already fired up from a bogey on the hole before. Good news for him was that he was able to make four birdies to compensate and to at least save the day.
Although the messiest situation of the day was that of Phil Mickelson (+4). The golfer from San Diego had a card that was completely marked by eight (quadruple bogey) that he made on the 6th hole. Mickelson tried to make an impossible shot from some shrubs, he wasn’t able to get it out in two attempts and on the third he dropped it with a penalty…Phil in his purest state.
