Laser treatment looks money well spent for Sergio Garcia after course record

 
Kevin Garside23 November 2012

It’s golf but not as we know it. Even Sergio Garcia conceded he had never had a round like it, equalling the course record in Dubai despite successive bogeys and a triple bogey 7 in the space of five holes on the back nine.

Garcia did not post a par coming home. His eight-under 64 briefly earned the clubhouse lead at the DP World Tour Championship, before Luke Donald, who plundered a 65 on the first day, opened his second round with a birdie.

The maths will have told you that had Garcia not missed short par puts at 12 and 13, nor hit a shocking tee shot at 16, he would have been around in 59. A month ago he had laser treatment in both eyes. His level par 72 yesterday suggested he had wasted his cash. Today it looked money well spent.

“I had a little problem in one of my eyes. When I looked down the line on the greens the spot was becoming a little blurry. Contact lenses were uncomfortable. It was either do nothing or get laser surgery and get rid of it. I’m still getting used to it.”

Garcia, who, eye surgery apart, has been idle since the Ryder Cup victory in September, opened with four birdies in five holes and added three more in four holes around the turn. “The roller-coaster started at 12, really. I missed a couple of short ones, followed that with eagle and birdie then hit the worst shot of the round at 16.

“I just tried to stay calm and figured another birdie coming in would still be a good round. In the end I hit two great shots on 17 and 18 to finish birdie eagle. In my whole career I don’t remember a round like it.”    

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in