Garcia Showing No Ill Effects Post Three-Month Knee Operation Break With Impressive Oman Opener.

3 years ago by Comments Off on Garcia Showing No Ill Effects Post Three-Month Knee Operation Break With Impressive Oman Opener.

…… Muscat, Oman

Spaniard Sergio Garcia shows no ill-effects of a long three-month break post a left knee operation as evident in posting a five-under 67 in testing conditions on the opening day of the Asian Tour’s International Series Oman.

Garcia, 43, posted eight birdies including a run of three birdies in succession from his 11th hole and then grabbed back-to-back birdies at his 15th and 16th hole ahead of a closing hole bogey to be lying in second place and just a shot behind Canadian Yonggu Shin.

“I hit some really good iron shots out there this morning even though I didn’t feel I was striking the ball all that well on my front nine”, he said.

“Then on the back nine I got going a little bit and made five birdies in six holes which was nice.

“The thing is also it’s a nice golf course here in Oman.  It does play really tricky as the greens are firm and it can be difficult to read the greens but it’s a good golf course”.

Garcia went under the knife last October and with last week’s Saudi International a first time with a scorecard back in his hand for some three months, and with the Masters champion finishing inside the top-30 with scores of 65, 70, 70 and 69.

Now in a first round of a second tournament the proud Spaniard has put himself for a possible seventh Asian Tour title and what would also be a 37th pro career victory toast.

“I worked my butt off, the second day after surgery I was doing rehab,” said Garcia ahead of the $2m event.

“I played golf sixteen days after surgery which is pretty good. For me, it was the first time ever I had two or three months off since my amateur days but it was really nice to be able to take care of my knee and fixate on rehab. It gives you time to work on the body and get fitter and healthier and take time off from the game and then start practicing again so it’s something we never had before. 

“After a couple of months you start jumping up the walls and you are just dying to get going again so it’s a funny situation. I was very happy to be at home, work on the body and practice and of course spend time with family, it was great.”

And despite now being a LIV player and where’s the competition is a mix of individual and team competition, Garcia says he’s not lost the desire to win individual titles by competing on the Asian Tour where he has his last Tour victory at the 2018 Singapore Open.

“That doesn’t change, if we didn’t have the desire to win and the desire to compete we wouldn’t be here,” he said.

“Obviously we still have that fire within ourselves and we love the challenges and stuff. We are out there grinding and I can guarantee you that if I hit a bad shot I am not happy. It’s not like it doesn’t matter.  

“Winning is always a great feeling, it’s not easy that’s why it’s such a great feeling and it’s one of the reasons why we practice so hard.”

While LIV players are currently suspended from the PGA Tour, Garcia was still a keen spectator from the other side of the television screen as he watched Real Madrid legend and close friend Gareth Bale tee it up in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week.

Garcia, a life long Madrista supporter, was impressed by what he saw from the five-time Champions League winner.

“He’s a friend of mine. He loves golf and he is a good golfer as everyone saw last week at Pebble Beach. Any chance we get to improve the game and make it more popular, then it’s welcome, we need that. 

“When you have a big star like Gareth Bale and Michael Jordan come and play the game it is very welcome because it helps our game overall. We are always super excited about that, and it was fun to watch him play a little bit. I know he has wanted to do it for a while but he couldn’t because he was playing soccer. I’m sure he had a great time.”



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