Hole-out eagle has Sergio Garcia back in contention

LAS VEGAS – Sergio Garcia was putting with his eyes closed on the way to victory last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship but they were wide open when he holed out for a timely eagle on Friday at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

The veteran Spaniard connected from 111 yards with his lob wedge on the par-4 6th hole at TPC Summerlin to reinvigorate his charge up the leaderboard and put him in position for back-to-back wins on TOUR.

After a first round 5-under 66 had him sitting four shots off the pace, Garcia made an early second-round climb with four birdies in his opening seven holes only to then stall with seven straight pars.

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But his magical eagle boosted him to double digits under par and a closing birdie helped him to a 64 and 12 under total, just two back of early pace-setters Patrick Cantlay and Martin Laird.

“I hit a really nice shot just right of the hole a with a tiny little draw. Obviously saw the ball bounce just right of the hole and spun,” Garcia said of the hole-out. “From where I was you couldn't quite see it, so I saw a little bit and I thought it hit the hole or hit the flag and I thought it stayed next to it. Obviously the little amount of people that were there, they kind of went crazy. It was nice to know that it was in.”

Garcia’s win in Jackson last week was his first on the PGA TOUR since the 2017 Masters and first anywhere in over a year. The 40-year-old knows when opportunities come you need to take advantage so he doesn’t intend to step off the gas this weekend.

“When you have one of those good moments, you try to enjoy it as much as possible and hopefully make the most out of it,” he said.

Joining him at 12 under is another veteran who recently arrested a form slide. Stewart Cink won the Safeway Open last month for his first victory since 2009. The renewed purple patch continued with a T12 last week and now he is once again in the mix.

Cink was dropping putts from everywhere and had two eagles during his 8-under 63 on Friday. All up he made 133 feet, seven inches of putts Friday which had him gaining four shots on the morning wave in Strokes Gained: Putting.

“It wasn't like it was a ton of bombs, but I hit it 15 feet a lot and a lot of those went in,” the 47-year-old Cink said. “I've made some changes in my game the last month or so and it’s paid off really quickly with a win, and now it's just fun to get out there and wail on the driver and see the shots. Golf is a fun game when you got things going right, and hopefully let it last a long time.”