Spain has already had a banner sports day, and the highly anticipated European Championship soccer final between the Spanish and the English has not even started yet.
Carlos Alcaraz dominated Wimbledon, defeating the legendary Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win the oldest tennis tournament in the world for a second consecutive year.
Then, in Andalucía, Sergio Garcia, wearing the colors of his native Spain, won the first LIV Golf event of his career in dramatic fashion. He defeated Anirban Lahiri in a two-hole playoff, as Lahiri missed a short putt on the 18th hole to force extra holes. Garcia consequently took advantage of the opportunity Lahiri gave him on his home soil.
“Without a doubt,” Garcia said when asked if his win in Spain was a career highlight.
“Not only that, but also Carlos winning. Alcaraz won today. Hopefully, Spain wins tonight. It would be an unbelievable weekend. Actually, I was talking to my wife and my manager, and I said, ‘If I can shoot 5-under, I’ll see what happens.’ But I played well, played well in the playoff. It’s just a tough hole. But so happy.
Garcia went out and carded a terrific 5-under 66, the lowest round of the day at Real Club Valderrama, the course that hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup and a LIV Golf event over the past two years.
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The 2017 Masters champion began the day on the 4th hole—under LIV’s shotgun format—and opened his final round with a birdie. Five more birdies followed on the subsequent 10 holes, as Garcia surged up the leaderboard and into contention. But he three-putted the 3rd hole—his last hole of the day—to drop back to 5-under overall.
Lahiri, meanwhile, started on the first hole and did not have his best stuff on Sunday after posting a 7-under score through 36 holes. He made two bogies over his first six holes, but did manage to birdie the par-5 4th. Another birdie followed at the par-5 11th, and by then, Lahiri looked like he had control of the tournament again. But he made three bogies over his final four holes, including that short miss at the last. And yet, he still had a chance to win, thanks to another birdie make on the par-5 17th.
“Losing is never fun,” said Bryson DeChambeau, who had a long embrace with Lahiri after the round.
“That’s what makes winning so much better. I feel for Ban.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
