By Chandler Hawkes, Sports@CJC

PINEHURST, N.C. — After a first round in which just 15 players shot under par Thursday, Sergio Garcia finds himself in the Top 10 of the leaderboard after firing one of two bogey-free rounds at a Pinehurst No. 2 golf course that lived up to expectations.

Garcia, competing in his 25th consecutive U.S. Open, became just the sixth player in the tournament’s history at Pinehurst No. 2 to shoot a bogey-free round. Last week, he wasn’t even sure he’d be in the field.

“Obviously to shoot under par in a U.S. Open, which is a championship that I love, it’s always great,” Garcia said. “To go bogey-free is even greater.”

The only other bogey-free round Thursday was from Rory McIlroy, who shares the lead at the Open with Patrick Cantlay after an opening 5-under 65, four shots in front of Garcia.

The name of the game around these hallowed grounds is hitting fairways and greens, and Garcia did just that throughout his entire round. He ranked third in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (1.77) and also hit 13 of 14 fairways, ranking him T4 in the field in that category.

Approach shots around Pinehurst No. 2 are imperative to scoring well due to the complexities of the greens, and Garcia aced them. He led the field in Greens in Regulation for the first round, hitting 16 of 18, coming in at 89% when the field average was only 55%.

“I did drive it really, really well. Very aggressively, too,” Garcia said. “You can aim at flags from the spots that I was…I tried to stay very calm and very committed to what I wanted to do, which was to hit a lot of greens after driving the ball that well.”

Garcia found his way into this year’s tournament by being the field’s first alternate. After going through the U.S. Open qualifying process, he lost in a playoff May 20 that would have guaranteed him one of the final spots from his sectional qualifier in Dallas, Texas, at the Dallas Athletic Club. Three weeks later, he found out Monday morning that he would be playing in this year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 after all.

“We knew that the chances were good,” Garcia expressed. “But until you get confirmation, obviously, it’s always a little uncertain.” 

Garcia said his prep was quite simple, even though he did not know if he would be in the field.

“It was LIV Houston,” Garcia said.

He notched a top-five finish at the Golf Club of Houston this past weekend, where he shot 11-under par for the tournament. He added that to a decorated season that also includes two second-place finishes, where he fell in the playoffs to Joaquin Niemann at LIV Mayakoba and Dean Burmester at LIV Miami.

Garcia has always loved Pinehurst and the No. 2 golf course, and his past results have shown it. 

“I’ve always liked it here. I obviously played in 2005 and 2014. I did very well in 2005,” Garcia said. “I think that on a course like this, like Pinehurst No. 2, you can celebrate a lot of pars, and that’s what we were doing today.”

In 2005, Garcia finished in T3 with Mark Hensby; in 2014, he finished in T35 when Martin Kaymer set the U.S. Open scoring record for the venue.

The veteran was asked plain and simple whether or not he thinks he has anything left to prove in his career, and his answer was simple.

“No,” Garcia said. “I love what I do, which is playing golf. I’m a competitor. I try to do it the best I can. Do I have to prove anything? No, of course not. Would I like to play better and better every day? Of course, I would. Who wouldn’t? When it comes down to proving things, I don’t think so. I think I’ve done well enough.”

Garcia tees off for his second round at 1:14 p.m. in search of making his 19th career cut at the U.S. Open.

Posted: June 14, 2024
Category: Covering the U.S. Open
Tagged as: 2024 U.S. Open, Covering the U.S. Open