Sergio Garcia Takes Lead at BMW Masters

Sergio Garcia shot a stellar 64 during Thursday’s first round. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

With Sergio Garcia setting the pace and Danny Willett trailing, the BMW Masters field is off and running – who will catch Rory McIlroy?

Sergio Garcia was one of the last players to tee off during today’s opening round of the BMW Masters, but once he did, he didn’t waste any time in chasing down the leaders. The Spaniard birdied half of Lake Malaren Golf Club to sign for a round of 64, matching his lowest score on the European Tour this season. He’s one stroke clear of pursuers Byeong-hun An and Victor Dubuisson.

After beginning his day on the tenth hole, Garcia birdied four of the first five to get into great initial position. While the middle of his round featured a lull–he bogeyed 17 to drop his only shot of the day–the 35-year-old tore up the front nine, circling five birdies over seven holes to secure the 18-hole lead.

“I had a couple of nice birdies–three birdies in the first four on my front nine and then another three or four birdies on the first four or five on the back nine,” Garcia said after his round.

He also spoke of his solid-yet-unspectacular recent form (in his last two starts, Garcia tied for 24th at the CIMB Classic and for 11th at the WGC-HSBC Champions), “I’m feeling a bit more comfortable, a bit better. I had a couple of rounds last week where I felt I played better than I did in Malaysia.”

An and Dubuisson, who played out of the same group during the first round, will be among those trying to thwart Garcia over the next three days. Both men went bogey-free and currently stand at seven-under.

Dubuisson, the eighth ranked player in the Race to Dubai, circled five birdies on the back nine to surge up the leaderboard. The Frenchman won the Turkish Airlines Open for the second time in three years just a couple of weeks ago.

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An started out steadily on the back nine before going on a run of three birdies to start his front, catapulting him up to the first page of the leaderboard. The South Korean is locked in a tight battle with Matthew Fitzpatrick and Anirban Lahiri for the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award.

Ross Fisher of England and Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark are another stroke back at six-under, good enough to be tied for fourth. They had similar days; both went bogey free and circled exactly six birdies en route to their rounds of 66.

Justin Rose, Paul Casey and Thongchai Jaidee (all of whom appeared in my power rankings from earlier this week) are tied for sixth, having shot rounds of 67. A large group at four-under rounds out the top 10; it includes Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Francesco Molinari, Eddie Pepperell, Richie Ramsay, Jaco van Zyl, Dou Zecheng and Xinjun Zhang.