The story appears on

Page A15

January 22, 2018

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Golf

Sublime Garcia captures Singapore Open

Sergio Garcia produced a masterful display of bogey-free golf over 27 holes yesterday to open his season with a five-shot victory at the weather-disrupted Singapore Open, the Spaniard making his move early and dominating from the front.

The 38-year-old US Masters champion signed for a final-round three-under 68 in glorious sunshine to finish on 14-under 270, well clear of Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira and South Africa’s Shaun Norris, who tied for second on nine-under-par.

“I played nicely but it wasn’t easy. There were some very challenging holes but I played very well and then was just steady on the back-nine to make sure I wasn’t making any bogeys,” Garcia said. “It was a great week overall. You still need to hit a lot of good shots to do well here and I was able to do that.”

Garcia had returned to the course at dawn to complete his third round after weather delays had forced an early finish on Saturday and the Spaniard hit the ground running, wiping out a two-shot deficit with four birdies in his last nine holes.

After reeling in overnight leaders Chapchai Nirat and Danthai Boonma and starting the last round with a one-shot lead, Garcia put on an iron-play masterclass as he surged clear of the field on the hazardous front nine at the par-71 Serapong Course. A birdie on the first hole of his final round doubled his lead and after a sumptuous approach and monster putt secured back-to-back birdies on seven and eight, Garcia was five shots clear as his nearest rivals wilted under a melting midday sun.

The world No. 10 then settled into safety mode, aiming for the center of the greens rather than attacking the pins, as he parred his last 10 holes on the rapidly drying Sentosa Golf Club layout to ensure no one could capitalize on any errors.

Elsewhere, Tommy Fleetwood successfully defended his Abu Dhabi Championship title after a sensational back nine to clinch the win. The 27-year-old Englishman, who celebrated his birthday on Friday, started the final round two shots behind overnight leaders Ross Fisher and Thomas Pieters, and an indifferent front nine saw him make the turn five shots behind Fisher.

But Fleetwood then birdied the 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes for a seven-under par 65 round to finish on 22-under 267.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend