Saturday 20 October 2018 18:43, UK
Sergio Garcia admitted he surprised even himself with his low scoring on day three as he continued his dominance of the Andalucia Valderrama Masters.
The storm-disrupted tournament had already been reduced to 54 holes when Garcia finally began his second round at lunchtime on Saturday, and he took full advantage of the soft conditions and fired a seven-birdie 64 to vault into a four-shot lead.
After an early bonus birdie when he chipped in at the second, Garcia picked up another shot at the next and then did well to keep a bogey off his card with some deft short-game skills in a run of seven straight pars.
The defending champion, who also won the previous edition of the event in 2011, got back on track with a good four at the long 11th, and Garcia thrilled the home galleries further with four birdies over the final five holes which hoisted him to 10 under - four strokes clear of Ashley Chesters.
"You don't expect to shoot this kind of score on this course, even with the conditions we had," said Garcia, who became the all-time leading Ryder Cup points scorer in Europe's memorable victory over Team USA at Le Golf National three weeks ago.
"The conditions were pretty favourable; I did see a four or five under if you play well, but it was one of those days when I struck the ball really, really well. Every time I had to get up and down I did and I was very consistent throughout the whole day, which obviously makes a big difference.
"I love how this course plays; it's not a long golf course but you have to be very accurate. Unfortunately a lot of the courses we play nowadays it's just grab your driver, hit it as hard as you can and that's it. The beautiful thing about this golf course is that you have to think your way around; you pretty much play every club in your bag.
"We have a good shot tomorrow, but it's not going to be an easy day at all, so we have to keep playing. Obviously we would have loved the tournament to go to 72 holes but unfortunately, we can't control the weather and it's been a little bit rough for us this week. We tried to make the best decision possible and tomorrow we have to play hard."
Chesters leads the chasing pack after he carded 17 pars and one birdie in a resolute 70, and the Englishman is looking forward to going head-to-head with the Spanish legend in a final-round shootout on Sunday.
"There is only one round to go and I'm not too far off the lead," said the 28-year-old, who is playing only his second full season on the European Tour. "I've got a bit of making up to do so I don't know if going to 54 holes makes much difference.
"But there's always a chance, and there's not a lot of pressure on me. I've had a decent year, I've got my card sorted and I've got the last few events to aim to get into if I can have a good week here. I've not really got a lot to lose so I can have a go tomorrow and see what happens.
"I'll be playing with Sergio, who was always one of my favourite players when I was growing up. I would imagine there will be quite a lot of Spanish people hoping he will win, so I would imagine it will be a bit different tomorrow."
