Sergio Garcia Surges Into Tie for Lead at LIV Singapore

Sergio Garcia hit all 18 greens in regulation at Sentosa Golf Club and shot 7-under-par 64 on Saturday to share the lead with Talor Gooch with one round to play at the LIV Golf Singapore tournament.

Gooch is coming off a victory last week at the LIV Adelaide event and shot a second-round 65 after an opening 64. Both players are at 129, 13 under par.

Brooks Koepka was a shot back in third place with British Open champion Cam Smith another shot back in a tie for fourth with Cameron Tringale and Scott Vincent, who shot a tournament-low 62.

Phil Mickelson, who was 5 under par through five holes before cooling off, shot his second straight 66 and is three shots back.

Garcia said he drew on some experience at Sentosa, where he won the 2018 Singapore Open.

“Some of the memories definitely help,” said Garcia, the 2017 Masters winner. “But at the end of the day, I think that every tournament is a different story. … It definitely makes a little bit of difference but obviously you know that if you want to contend on a LIV tournament, you have to raise your level as much as possible because all of these guys can really play the game.”

For Gooch, he has now held at least a share of the lead after eight LIV rounds, including the last five straight.

“Nothing can replace experience,’’ he said. “The more that I can put myself in this position, the more comfortable I’m going to get.’’

In the LIV team competition in which three of the four scores count each day, Gooch’s RangeGoats team captained by Bubba Watson is tied with Mickelson’s Hy Flyers at 25 under par. Smith’s Ripper GC is in third. All three enter the final round seeking their first team victory.