Garcia loses his cool - and use of his putter - as hopes take a nosedive
A fit of temper landed Sergio Garcia in a whole lot of trouble in the third round of the Dell Technologies Championship .
The Spaniard damaged his putter by slamming it into a sprinkler head after badly misjudging an eagle attempt on the short par-four fourth at TPC Boston. Under the rules of golf, Garcia was not allowed to use it again for the rest of the round, although the Masters champion did at least hole his birdie putt – from 13 feet – with a fairway wood.
Using a 3-wood for his next putt at the fifth, Garcia rolled in for a birdie.
Things did not go his way when he switched to a driver at the ninth and three-putted from 21 feet for a bogey, hitting a putt just six inches from about a foot and a half. He later switched to a long iron with some success, holing birdie putts of 12 and eight feet at the 13th and 17th holes, respectively.
Garcia, who declined to speak to the media after his round, finished the day with 33 putts during a 4-over 75 that dropped him to two over par for the week.
It was not the first time this season Garcia has caused himself problems by losing his temper. The worldno 7 injured his shoulder after lashing out at a gorse bush on the fourth hole at Royal Birkdale during this year’s Open Championship.
At two over par going into the final round, Garcia was 14 shots behind leaders Justin Thomas and Marc Leishman, who shot superb rounds of 63 and 65 respectively despite wet and windy conditions.
England’s Paul Casey was a shot off the lead after a 67 0 Sergio Garcia putts with an iron at the 15th hole. Stacy Lewis donated her £150,000 winnings to the flood victims in Houston after holding off the challenge of Chun In-gee to claim victory at the Cambia Portland Classic.
Lewis pledged before the tournament that she would give her prize money to those affected by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, where she and her husband – University of Houston women’s golf coach Gerrod Chadwell – have a house in the north east of the city.
The 32-year-old American looked well on course to be able to hand over the $195,000 first prize when she started with a threeshot lead over the chasing pack and then birdied the opening two holes.
Lewis dropped a shot on the fourth but picked up further birdies on the sixth and seventh to reach the turn in 33. However, while she finished her round with 11 successive pars to card a 69 and finish on 20 under overall, Chun made her sweat for the victory. The South Korean recorded six birdies in a blemish-free 66 but ended up finishing one shot behind Lewis on 19 under after pars on 17 and 18.
Lewis, who did well to avoid dropping shots on both the final two holes, admitted the final day was “much harder” than she had anticipated before clinching her first LPGA Tour title since 2014.
She said on www.lpga. com: “In-gee just played great and I knew she would and I knew it was going to be hard.
“I was hitting a lot of good shots, hitting a lot of good putts, and they just weren’t going in. To make that upand-down on 17 and then to hit that shot out of the bunker on 18, it’s something you dream about.”
Having been told her sponsor KPMG would match her donation to the relief effort in Houston, Lewis said: “That’s unbelievable. When I said that I had the goal of winning the tournament and you’ve got to get a lot of things right to go your way.
“What we’re going to be able to do, we’re going to be able to help people rebuild houses and get their homes back. That’s more important than any win.”