Alligator, opponents can’t stop Garcia at Honda Classic
Sergio Garcia made an eagle, avoided an alligator and wound up in a share of the lead Thursday in the Honda Classic.
Garcia holed out with an 8-iron from 142 yards into the wind on the second hole for an eagle, and he narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 18th hole at PGA National. The Spaniard shot 5-under 65 and shared the lead with Michael Thompson, the 2013 Honda Classic winner, who also birdied the last hole.
They were one shot ahead of Rickie Fowler and William McGirt.
Locally, Steve Wheatcroft shot a 1-over-par 71 and Brendon Todd was at 2-over 72.
The biggest excitement for Garcia was on the par-4 sixth hole, where he made his lone bogey.
His tee shot found the water left of the fairway, shallow enough for him to roll up his pants and try to play it out to the fairway. That part was easy. He looked over his shoulder because of an alligator on the island, making sure it wasn’t going anywhere soon.
“I was more worried about the alligator that was on the other side of the island than getting out of the water,” Garcia said. “The ball, I could see probably half of it, so I knew that I could get it out. Almost made 4, which would have been a great 4. I’m not going to lie, I was happy with a 5.”
And he was happy with other 60 strokes he took on a typical windy day at PGA National.
Garcia missed the cut last week at Riviera, two days in which he said he did nothing well. Hardly anything went wrong for him in the Honda Classic, and even when it did, he managed to avoid trouble. Garcia had to play a 40-yard hook from the rough left of the 10th fairway to just short of the green for a simple par.
Fowler had the only bogey-free round, which included a chip-in for par on the 10th hole. McGirt was more on the wild side by making seven birdies.
Thompson tops in Thailand: Lexi Thompson had two eagles in an 8-under 64 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Q Baek at the LPGA Tour’s Thailand tournament.
Amy Yang, the defending champion, shot 66 and was two strokes behind after the first round. Two golfers were tied for fourth after opening 68s Azahara Munoz and Jenny Shin.
“Two eagles definitely helps out the scorecard,” Thompson said. “We couldn’t have asked for better conditions, weather-wise and golf course, so just happy to be out here.”