Record round leaves Garcia top of the pile
DEFENDING champion Sergio Garcia hit three birdies in his first 11 holes to move to the top of the leaderboard at the end of the second round of the rain-affected Valderrama Masters.
Garcia and Ashley Chesters were tied for first place after the first round on five under par, before Garcia hit a birdie at the 11th to overtake the Englishman. The Spaniard carded a seven under par round of 64 – his lowest score at Valderrama. Chesters managed one birdie and sits second on six under.
Marc Warren joins Alvaro Quiros, Gregory Bourdy and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano in joint third. They have all completed their 18 holes and are all four under par.
Warren said after the second round: ‘It’s been a long two rounds of golf with all the delays we’ve had, but I’m really pleased with the position I’m in. Four under after two rounds is very pleasing.’
Shane Lowry finished his second round with a birdie to leave him one under for the day. The Offaly man is in an overall tie for sixth with Lee Westwood on three under par.
The tournament, hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation, has been affected by the weather and was reduced to 54 holes from the original 72 with the third round potentially taking place tomorrow. It is the last chance in the European Tour for the players to reach the top 116 in the Race to Dubai.
Meanwhile, Brooks Koepka has improved his chances of taking over as world No1, shooting a bogey-free five-under 67 yesterday for a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges on Jeju Island, South Korea.
Koepka had a three-round total of 13-under 203. Ian Poulter, who shot 68 Saturday, was tied for second place with second-round leader Scott Piercy, who had a 72. The 28-year-old Koepka, who trailed by one stroke after two rounds, will move to the top of the world rankings if he wins the tournament and Justin Thomas, the defending champion here, does not finish better than second.
Thomas shot a 71 Saturday and is at one under, 12 strokes behind Koepka and tied for 43rd. It would be Koepka’s first appearance at No1.
Dustin Johnson is currently No1, Koepka is third and Thomas fourth.
There were six golfers tied for fourth in South Korea, including Rafa Cabrera Bello, who shot 65 yesterday, and firstround leader Chez Reavie (70).
Shubhankar Sharma of India had the round of the day, a 64, to move to three under, 10 strokes behind Koepka.
Koepka’s round included backto-back birdies on the ninth and 10th holes, and then a key par save from a difficult lie in the greenside bunker on the 11th.
Looking ahead to the final round, Koepka said: ‘My confidence has always been pretty high. Anytime you can win three majors you’re going to be feeling good about yourself. To do what I’ve done over the last two years has been special, but I’m looking to build on that.’
After a round of five birdies and a bogey, Poulter also knows what he needs to do today.
‘I think it’s not as windy as Thursday, so I think the scoring’s going to be pretty good,’ said Poulter, who has improved to No35 in the rankings after coming close to losing his card on the PGA Tour in 2016.
‘Tomorrow, I’m going to need to make a few birdies. Brooks is in cruise control right now and obviously I am going to need to shoot a low one.’
Piercy, looking for his first individual win on the PGA Tour since the Barbasol Championship in July 2015, started with a birdie, but needed to make birdies on his last two holes to ensure he finished on even-par.
‘I’m a little frustrated. I felt I rolled the ball really well today and I kept hitting lip after lip. I was just a little sloppy and the ball-striking wasn’t quite there,’ said Piercy.
‘I just made stupid little mental errors today and it’s hard to come back from it.’
The $9.5 million tournament is the second in the PGA Tour’s three-week Asian swing culminating in the WGC-HSBC Champions next week in Shanghai.