Sergio García finished second at the LIV Miami after falling into the second hole tiebreaker against Dean Burmester. The Spaniard had started the day as co-leader and held on top until the end, but at the decisive moment of the day he went into the water and his options ended there. In any case, he has shown a great face that corroborates that he is in the best season of his new professional stage as a player in the Saudi league. In his last years on the regular circuits he triumphed in the Asian (Singapore 2018), European (Holland 19) and American (Sanderson Farms 20), but It was changing sides and starting a very painful drought for a winner like him..
From the beginning he faced the leadership of LIV Golf as one of its great supporters and that cost him personal and sporting wear and tear from which he is already beginning to relive. With his old friendships restored (his breakup with Rory McIlroy was the one that hurt him the most at the time), the game would have to flow again sooner or later. After last year’s LIV Singapore runner-up (he lost in the tiebreaker against Talor Gooch), this one started in the same way in Mayakoba by losing in the playoff against Joaquín Niemann. Therefore, following the saying that ‘third time’s the charm’, he wanted the streak to be broken in Miami.
He had reached that last phase tied with the Zimbabwean Dean Burmester (-11) and, since no one was going to take second place from him, what he wanted was to return to the top of the podium just before the Augusta Masters. What better time to do it.
When García and the Stingers player went out to play the first extra hole, the forces were equal in the middle of the fairway, first, and then on the collar of the green. So victory would depend on his ability with the short game. Both proved to be equally tuned in that aspect and came out tied again in search of another chance to break the tie.
But it was then that fortune once again prevented him from enjoying success with his family, who was anxiously waiting for him on the edge of the hole. On that occasion the starting shot was not so close and he found the lake on the left edge, which opened the doors for his rival not to forgive him again. It was a row and row to die on the shore.
Previously, the day had been very interesting with a constant dance at the head that had made a good number of applicants appear. The two finalists mentioned plus Louis Oosthuizen, Matt Wolff, Tyrrell Hatton, who due to the development of the game and the difficulties of the field itself, fell from there. The ‘Blue Monster’ has that monstrous nickname for a reason, since to its tremendous length it adds a lot of water and sand to protect the enormous greens and corner flag positions that made golfers avoid direct shots. So it was more of a round of survival than excessive attacks. In these circumstances, the man from Castellón proved to be a master, as he did not despair at not having a good day on the mats (his putts were constantly falling short) and went to hole out a decisive ‘pure’ on hole 17 of ten. meters that made the African tremble and surely caused the final ‘bogey’ with which he lost his head alone. Then, the player from Castellón lost his chance to beat the first and in the added holes he no longer regained his magic.
The positive part of the tournament was the new success of Rahm’s legionnaires (-22), who won the team competition by one stroke ahead of Bubba Watson’s Rangegoats. It is his second victory after Mexico in February.
2024-04-07 23:19:50
#Sergio #García #finishes #LIV #Golf #Miami
