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Garcia (61) leads WGC, breaks back-nine record

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AKRON, Ohio — Sergio Garcia doesn’t know anything about being in a zone. He had no trouble identifying the best round of his career.

Garcia one-putted the final 11 holes and made birdies on his last seven holes Friday in the Bridgestone Invitational to tie the course record at Firestone with a 9-under 61 and take a three-shot lead into the weekend.

He had a birdie putt on every hole on the back nine, missing only a 15-footer from the fringe at No. 11. Garcia shot 27 on the back nine, a course record.

”Just one of those moments that you love and you enjoy, and you wish there were no end,” he said.

It matched the tournament record held by Tiger Woods, who shot 61 in 2000 and 2013, and Jose Maria Olazabal, who shot his 61 in 1990. Woods went on to win by 11 shots in 2000 and seven shots last year. Olazabal won by 12 in the World Series of Golf.

Garcia still has work to do.

He was at 11-under 129, three shots clear of Justin Rose, who had a 67. British Open champion Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes for a 64 and joined Marc Leishman of Australia (67) four shots out of the lead.

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational: Articles, videos and photos

McIlroy played in the group behind Garcia, and could hear what was going on if he couldn’t see it.

”Every time I looked, he was putting a ball in the hole and the crowd was cheering,” McIlroy said. ”I knew that he was making a few birdies.”

Garcia was five shots out of the lead when he had to scramble to save pars on back-to-back holes to close out the front nine on what seemed to be an ordinary round. Two good swings on the 10th hole led to a 20-foot birdie putt. He hit 8-iron to 2 feet on No. 12 and 3 feet on No. 13 for the easiest birdies he had all day, and those turned out to be the start of his big run.

The Spaniard finished in style, making birdie putts of 15, 25 and 20 feet on his last three holes.

It reminded Garcia of the Travelers Championships earlier this summer, when Kevin Streelman closed with seven straight birdies to beat Garcia and K.J. Choi by one shot.

”When I made the one on 17 I thought, ‘This kind of looks familiar from what happened not too long ago,”’ Garcia said. ”Obviously, Sunday would be even nicer. But I’ll take what I can get.”

His previous best score was a 62 on three other occasions – as a 19-year-old at the Scottish Open and Byron Nelson Classic in 1999, and at Mount Juliet in 2002 at the American Express Championship.

Woods also shot his 61s at Firestone in the second round. He could have used something remotely close to that to stay in range of Garcia. Instead, Woods hit only four fairways off the tee and couldn’t seem to make anything on the green. It added to a 71, leaving him 10 shots behind.

”I didn’t hit the ball well. I didn’t putt well. I didn’t do anything well,” Woods said. ”The only thing I did well was I fought hard. Grinded hard. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very good day.”

Starting times for the third round were moved up to Saturday morning, with threesomes off both tees, because of a forecast for storms. That figures to only keep Firestone soft, allowing players to attack the pins provided they’re in the short grass.

Rose missed only two greens in posting a 67 as his momentum builds toward the final major of the year next week at the PGA Championship. He wouldn’t mind adding a WGC title this week. Either way, there is a long stretch of big tournaments, and Rose is headed in the right direction. He won back-to-back starts at Congressional and Royal Aberdeen before stalling slightly at the British Open.

”I’m feeling good about peaking at this time of the year,” Rose said. ”Every week is big. You could argue a major championship in the middle of it all is the one you’d really love to peak for next week. But at the same time, there’s not a bad golf tournament now for about two months. Looking forward to the whole stretch.”

He didn’t realize when he finished that Rose would have three shots to make up on Garcia starting out the third round.

It didn’t come entirely out of the blue for Garcia. Just two weeks ago, he challenged McIlroy briefly at Royal Liverpool until tying for second in the British Open. But this was something special, and Garcia could sense it.

”It feels great to be able to … equal the course record on a course like this. Even playing soft, it’s not that easy a course,” Garcia said. ”You have to drive the ball very, very well. You have to put the ball on the greens on the right spots because you can get some really, really fast putts.

”Being in a group with Tiger and Jose Maria, it feels really good.”

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Garcia takes Bridgestone lead with back-nine 27

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AKRON, Ohio – Playing among the final groups Friday afternoon, Sergio Garcia rode a hot putter to the top of the leaderboard at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Here’s how things look after two rounds at Firestone, where Garcia leads by three shots:

Leaderboard: Sergio Garcia (-11), Justin Rose (-8), Marc Leishman (-7), Rory McIlroy (-7), Rickie Fowler (-6), Charl Schwartzel (-6), Patrick Reed (-5), Keegan Bradley (-5)

What it means: Rose held the top spot for much of the day, but Garcia rattled off seven straight back-nine birdies to pull ahead, as he looks to win his first WGC title. A number of top names remain within striking distance, though, including McIlroy, who carded a 6-under 64 in his second round since winning the Open Championship.

Round of the day: Garcia made just one birdie on the front nine, then went lights out on the inward half. He birdied No. 10 and then made seven in a row on Nos. 12-18, ending with 10 straight one-putts and a back-nine 27 that broke the Firestone record. His 9-under 61 also tied the overall course record, most recently shot by Tiger Woods in the second round last year.

Best of the rest: McIlroy got off to a fast start with birdies on each of his first three holes, then cooled during the middle stretch of his round before ending with a flurry. The Ulsterman birdied three of his final five holes, including Nos. 17 and 18, to shoot the second-best score of the week and remain within four shots of Garcia heading into the weekend.

Biggest disappointment: Ryan Moore was within a shot of the lead heading into Friday but stumbled to a 3-over 73 in the second round and plummeted down the leaderboard. Moore managed only two birdies against five bogeys. At 2 under, he now heads into the third round nine shots off the pace.

Main storyline heading into Saturday: With tee times moved up to avoid possible inclement weather, all eyes will be on Garcia, as he looks for his first PGA Tour win since the 2012 Wyndham Championship. After making everything in sight across his final nine holes, it remains to be seen how he can respond with several big names – including multiple major champions – still within reach.

Shot of the day: Starting on the back, Henrik Stenson got his round off to an ideal start by holing a wedge from 108 yards on the 10th. The eagle propelled Stenson to a 4-under 66 that moved him to 3 under for the week.

Quote of the day: “It was definitely a dream back nine.” – Garcia

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