Garcia keeps on a roll with hole-in-one
Spaniard hits an ace on the iconic Sawgrass 17th Mcilroy loses way and is hit by back trouble again
One tournament you are winning the Green Jacket, the very next you are making a hole-in-one on one of the game’s most iconic par-threes. For Sergio García, the celebrations just will not stop.
All of those those victory laps since breaking his major curse at the Masters four weeks ago seemed to have taken their toll as the Spaniard went through the first six holes here at the Players in four-over, including a four-putt on the fifth.
But with a three-under back nine, the hero of Augusta played himself back into the tournament and added another magic moment for his 2017 highlights reel in the process.
García, 37, had just birdied the 16th when arriving on the tee of the 17th, in the famous 123-yarder with the island green. García had previously experienced his fair share of both agony and ecstasy on the hole – the former when winning a playoff against Paul Goydos there in 2008; the latter when hitting two into the water in defeat against Tiger Woods 2013.
And, in 2015, he complained of being heckled on the 17th in another play-off, this one won by Rickie Fowler.
Two years on, it was very much a case of joy and cheers. García’s ball took two hops before spinning back and dropping and there he was, once more, with his arms raised in glory, before holding his index fin- ger up to show the players on the 16th – including Rory Mcilroy – what all the mayhem was about.
Is this really the same figure who believed himself to be the principal enemy of the golfing gods? Granted, García is six behind the American pacesetters Mackenzie Hughes and Will Mcgirt – with another Spaniard in Jon Rahm in the group on four-under - but the smile persists.
“That was a great feeling,” García said. “I was a little edgy early on but I stayed with it and it now feels like a decent round.”
His mood was in contrast to Mcilroy who revealed after his own 73 that he was suffering with the same injury which saw him sidelined for almost two months at the beginning of the campaign.
“My back has got a little bit stiff again, I guess just from not doing anything for three weeks and then coming back last weekend and hitting balls for four or five hours a day,” Mcilroy said.
“I’ve aggravated that joint in my back again, the thing that happened at the start of the season. I’ve sort of been trying to rest that and manage that, so I think that’s why I’m a little bit rusty, as well.
“This week it’s just about trying to manage and try to play with what I have, and then next week try to recover for the rest of the season.”
So, Mcilroy’s first competitive round as a married man was anything but comfortable. He reached the turn in level par, but from there his day unravelled. Mcilroy had his own four putt on the 10th and hit the ball on the water on the 14th.
There were birdies on the 12th, 17th and 18th which limited the damage to one-over. But Mcilroy has plenty of work to do with his new Taylormade clubs. He hit only six fairways and, even though he suffered that nightmare on the 10th green was rescued by his short game.
“I feel like I turned a 75 or a 76 into a 73, so it wasn’t all bad,” he said. “But I scrambled pretty well, and I birdied two of the last three holes to make it somewhat respectable. At least gives me a chance to go out and shoot a good one tomorrow and get myself in the mix.”
The Northern Irishman’s challenge was put into starker perspective by the recovery of his playing partner, Dustin Johnson. The world No 1 eagled the 16th to turn a mediocre display into an eye-catching 71. It could have been so much better as there were two “horseshoe” putts for Johnson, but as he acknowledged it is quite a feat to shoot one-under on Pete Dye’s mischievous lay-out when so much had gone against him.
“It seems like everybody has one day around here where they struggle a little bit, so to get it in under par is very good,” Johnson said. “I’m pleased with it. I just need to go out tomorrow morning and post a good score.”
The conditions will likely be much easier for Mcilroy and Johnson, as the course plainly firmed up in the blazing sun as the day got longer. It could be brutal by this afternoon.