VALDERRAMA, Spain, 30 October 2004 — Sergio Garcia staged a brilliant fightback and then survived the threat of being disqualified yesterday to retain his lead of the Volvo Masters.
The 24-year-old began the second round four-under par and joint leader with fellow Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara but collapsed to only one-under after three holes, thanks to a bogey and a double bogey.
Garcia managed to steady himself and played a brilliant inward nine, grabbing five birdies, including back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18, to finish with a two-under 69.
Garcia’s two-under 69 put him six-under for the championship and one ahead of Scotland’s Alaistair Forsyth and two clear of England’s Ian Poulter and three clear of Angel Cabrera and France’s Christian Cevaer.
But after his round Garcia faced the risk of being disqualified. There was an inquiry into if he had broken the rules when he ran up a double bogey at the par three third.
Garcia hit his tee shot into the bushes to the right of the green and played a provisional ball. His second tee shot stopped 12 feet from the flag and he decided not to look for the first ball but unknown to Garcia, a spectator had found it.
Under the rules Garcia has to play the original ball if it is found but none of the fans around the green told the Spaniard his ball had been discovered.
“It is bizarre in the extreme,” said chief rules official John Paramour who carried out the investigation. “It is very unusual.”
The round of the day went to Argentina’s Angel Cabrera who played himself back into contention with a five-under 66. Ulsterman Darren Clarke was lying three-under for the championship, five-under for the day, and holding a share of the lead when he stood on the tee of the par five. By the time he walked off the green Clarke had vanished off the leaderboard after carding a six-over 11 for the hole. Three times Clarke put the ball in the water guarding the front of the heavily sloping green.
Sluman Leads in Chrysler Championship
In Palm Harbor, Florida, Jeff Sluman fired a nine-under 62 here Thursday to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the $5 million Chrysler Championship.
Sluman completed a bogey-free round on the 7,661-yard, par-71 Copperhead course to lead three golfers sharing second on 64.
Sluman even made it look easy when he was in trouble. After driving into a bunker on 18, he hit a seven-iron within of two feet to close with a birdie. Jonathan Kaye, Kent Jones and Kirk Triplett were tied for second. England’s Justin Rose and world No. 1 Vijay Singh were in a tie for fifth on 65. “The greens were very nice today and there was no wind, so as long as you hit the fairway, you were OK. That’s what I did,” said Singh, who is targeting $10 million in earnings this year.
