Garcia keeps up good form in Sun City

Sergio Garcia led the European Tour’s Nedbank Golf Challenge by four shots after posting a superb eightunder 64 on the opening day in Sun City, South Africa.

The Spaniard, a two-times winner of the event, registered eight birdies in his bogey-free round yesterday at Gary Player Country Club.

Charl Schwartzel of South Africa was one of three players on four under, along with Finland’s Mikko Korhonen and France’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera.

A group of six at three under included Schwartzel’s compatriot Louis Oosthuizen. Englishmen Andy Sullivan and Matt Wallace, Australia’s Jason Scrivener, France’s Benjamin Hebert and China’s Wu Ashun are the others lying five shots back.

South Africa’s defending champion Branden Grace is at two under, along with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, while Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who went into this tournament still hopeful of winning a fourth Race to Dubai title, is a further two shots back.

Garcia’s birdies came on the first, on four out of five holes from the seventh, and then on three of the last four.

The 38-year-old Spaniard – going for a second consecutive win, having triumphed at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters last month – told the European Tour’s official website: “It felt great. I made some good putts here and there.

“It was one of those rounds where things happened nicely. I think I played very smart, I probably wasn’t swinging unbelievably but I kept it under control and kept the ball in play all the time, which is difficult to do here. I managed to guess some of the winds here right and that is very, very difficult. When you can do that here, it’s nice to be able to shoot a score like this.”