Sergio Garcia in contention at BMW International Open after flawless 66
Thursday 22 June 2017 20:14, UK
Sergio Garcia made an encouraging start to his first European Tour event as Masters champion as he fired a flawless six-under 66 at the BMW International Open.
Garcia defied the effects of jet-lag following last week's US Open to end the round two shots behind early pace-setter Wade Ormsby, while defending champion Henrik Stenson and the in-form Tommy Fleetwood found conditions at the Golfclub Munchen Eichenried to their liking as they carded 67s.
Rising Belgian star Thomas Detry set the early clubhouse target at seven under with a classy 65, following a birdie at the 12th - his third - by pitching in for an eagle-two at the next before he responded to a bogey at the first with five birdies over his final eight holes.
But Detry lost out on the overnight lead to Ormsby, who was just one under after eight holes before he kick-started his rise up the leaderboard with four birdies in five holes around the turn.
The Australian picked up further shots at the 15th and 16th, and he left a 30-foot putt for eagle at the last in the jaws of the hole, leaving a tap-in for his eighth birdie of a blemish-free round.
Garcia opened with four solid pars and then birdied three of the next four holes to turn in 33, and the Spaniard followed another gain at 11 with further birdies at 16 and 18 to cap a positive performance, although he then revealed he had suffered a minor back problem during the US Open.
"I felt pretty good," he said. "I'm trying to recover from jet-lag, and I had little bit of a tweak on my back that I got last Friday and still kind of dealing with it a little bit. But the good thing is it doesn't bother me when I play.
"But I felt like I hit a lot of good shots and I didn't put myself under a whole lot of stress, so I'm very happy with the six under. The greens are tricky, a lot of putts look like they are going to break and they don't from inside eight or nine feet, and sometimes it's not easy to commit to your lines.
"My wedge game was good, I hit a lot of wedge shots close to the hole. I also drove the ball nicely, hit a lot of fairways, and because of that I was able to give myself some good birdie chances and convert some of them, so I was very pleased."
Joost Luiten recovered from an early bogey with a sparkling run of six birdies in eight holes and he also birdied the last two to join Garcia in a share of third, while Thorbjorn Olesen also got to six under when he rolled in his seventh birdie putt of the day at his final hole.
Stenson, who cruised to a three-shot win to lift the title for the second time at Gut Larchenhof last year, closed with back-to-back birdies to join a large group on five under which included Fleetwood, who continued the good form that earned him a top-10 finish at Erin Hills as he raced out of the blocks with three consecutive birdies.
Over half of the 156-man field broke par in near-perfect conditions, but home favourite and 2008 champion Martin Kaymer was not among them as he offset two birdies with a pair of bogeys in a disappointing 72.
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