Sergio Garcia may have defected to the dark side but the 45-year-old Spaniard isn’t giving up hope of forcing his way into Europe captain Luke Donald’s plans for the Ryder Cup in Bethpage later this year.
Garcia’s win in LIV Hong Hong – his second win on that tour in a matter of months – has renewed his ambitions to again be part of Europe’s Ryder Cup team: “I think (Luke Donald) is watching. We’ve been in touch, so I know he’s keeping an eye,” remarked Garcia, who has fallen to 509th in the world.
He added: “The only thing I can do is keep playing good golf, and I just want to help the European team like I’ve tried to do every single time I’ve been a member of that team, and hopefully he will think I’m good enough for it.”
Garcia is playing in this week’s LIV stop in Singapore, where Tom McKibbin is also playing and planning to remain on for next week’s DP World Tour stop.
Golfing weather
The effects of tropical Cyclone Alfred caused last week’s Australian WPGA Championship to be cancelled as players were advised to leave the Gold Coast area for their own safety, and this week’s Australian Women’s Classic has been reduced from 72-holes to 54-holes due to weather damage at Coffs Harbour Golf Club in New South Wales.
Three Irish players – Lauren Walsh, Annabel Wilson and Anna Foster – were among the Ladies European Tour contingent to make the long journey Down Under before having to make hasty onward trips away from the worst hit storm region in Queensland.
At least the trio will get to play this week, with the tournament moved back a day to a Friday start with the greenstaff at Coffs Harbour “working tirelessly to alleviate the storm’s impact to ensure the course is ready for play later this week”, according to a statement from the LET.
Walsh has made a strong start to her second season on the LET, finishing tied-fourth in the season-opening Lalla Meryem tournament in Morocco last month, where she had considered withdrawing on the eve of the event due to illness but recovered sufficiently to contend.
Word of Mouth
“I was just so lost with my game, with my putting a few years back and just super inconsistent, didn’t really have a great plan. He’s kind of learned my personality and really just tried to get me to focus on the little details of improving, just set up and start line and how I read the greens and believing, you know, in my process, even when things aren’t going well. So it’s not just a little tip here and there with the putting. It’s also like he’s a psychologist as well, really. He’s amazing” – Russell Henley, winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, on how guru Phil Kenyon transformed his putting.
By the numbers: 14
Shane Lowry moved to a career best 14th in the official world rankings, following the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Lowry has finished 7th-11th-39th-2nd in his last four tournaments. His previous best ranking was on moving to 17th after his win in The Open in 2019.
On this day: March 11th, 2001
Tony Johnstone, these days, is known for his commentary work with Sky Sports but the Zimbabwean was also an accomplished player in his time with six wins on the European Tour, the last of those coming in the Qatar Masters.
On a windswept final day’s play, where scores ballooned into the 80s for some, Johnstone closed with a fine 70 at Doha Golf Club for a total of 14-under-par 274, which gave him a two-stroke winning margin over Sweden’s Robert Karlsson. Karlsson had an outside chance to force a playoff, but his attempted chip for eagle on the 18th slid by the hole and he then missed the birdie putt back.
Johnstone had started the final round a shot behind Karlsson and Angel Cabrera, who slumped to a closing 78. His route to a sixth career win on the European circuit was given a wonderful start with a chip-in eagle on the first hole to leapfrog into the outright lead but Johnstone and Karlsson fought it out until late birdies on the 16th and 18th gave the golfer-turned-commentator the win.
David Higgins matched the low round of the day with a closing 68 for 282 to finish in tied-eighth.
Social Swing
Not the result I wanted but nice to be in the hunt again at Bay Hill. Thanks to everyone at @Mastercard and @APinv for a great event. Onto @THEPLAYERS – Shane Lowry adopting the glass half-full approach in moving on to Sawgrass.
An up and down day. Struggled on the greens. Shot 70 for minus 9, 3 back of the playoff @ChampionsTour @CologuardGolf – Pádraig Harrington
I’m currently a better golfer than Jon Rahm – Michael Kim (very much tongue in cheek) after jumping ahead of the Spaniard in the official world rankings.
In the bag: Russell Henley (Arnold Palmer Invitational)
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees)
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (16.5 degrees) Hybrid: Titleist TSi2 (21 degrees) Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5-9) Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48, 50, 54-and 60 degrees) Putter: Scotty Cameron T5 Tour Prototype
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Know the Rules
Q: In a stroke-play competition players A, B and C were drawn by the committee to play together starting at 9.00am. A and B were ready to play at the appointed time. Due to bad traffic player C arrived at 9.02am after A and B had teed off but just in time to play in the correct order. What is the ruling?
A: As C arrived and was ready to play no more than five minutes late, instead of being disqualified, player C gets two penalty strokes for failure to be ready to play at the appointed start time (Rule 5.3a).
