Sergio Garcia had to remove his shoes before playing his approach on the par-5 12th. He went on to halve the hole with a sensational birdie. By Lewis Blain
WATCH: Sergio Garcia Removes Shoes To Play Shot Off Cart Path
Sergio Garcia hit one of the shots of the day during his WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play opener with Shubhankar Sharma.
The 2017 Masters champion removed his shoes to hit his approach into the par-5 12th after his drive was hit wayward onto the cart path.
Garcia sensationally managed to hit his second shot to within 30-feet of the pin where he went on to two-putt for birdie to halve the hole with Sharma.
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The 38-year-old said after the round: "I have spikes. So if I don't take my shoes off, I'm going to slip. It's not the kind of shot that you want to slip.
“I had tried it a couple of times on practice swings and I was already slipping a little bit. So I thought I would just take my shoes off, try to get a little bit in front of the hole and it came out great.”
The match-up between the world number nine Garcia and 21-year-old prodigy Sharma was the penultimate pairing sent out onto the course during the opening day.
(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
There was little to split the two with it going down to the final hole.
Garcia went 2-up through the opening four holes but Joburg Open and Maybank Championship winner Sharma worked his way back to take a one-hole lead turning into the back nine.
The 10-time winner on the PGA Tour, Garcia, birdied five of his final eight holes to bring it back to all-square twice.
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It was all to play for going into the par-4 18th but the Spaniard pounced on a poor tee shot by Sharma to leave himself with an 8-footer for the victory.
(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
The win extends his record to 20-17-1 in the WGC Match Play format and it caps off a memorable week after the birth of his daughter, Azalea.
“I already feel like I’m a winner after what happened on Wednesday,” Garcia said.
“Obviously, it's something that we're so, so happy and proud of and enjoying it as much as possible.”
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