Sergio García started LIV Miami in the lead

The Spanish Sergio García is one of the three golfers who closed this Friday as leader of the LIV tournament in Miami, after the first day in which his compatriot Jon Rahm finished two shots behind the best. García got a -5 (67 strokes with five birdies without bogeys).

With -5, Americans Peter Uihlein and Talor Gooch are also at the top.

Sergio Garcia, results

Two strokes away and -3 appears Rahm, who had a debut in Miami with a little of everything: four birdies, an eagle, a bogey and a double bogey.

The Basque will face the Augusta Masters next week, in which he defends the green jacket that he won in 2023. The other two Spaniards in this tournament, Eugenio Chacarra and David Puig, concluded their first day with a +1 and a +3, respectively.

In addition, the Chilean Mito Pereira was among the best with a -3, the Chilean Joaquín Niemann got a -1, the Mexican Abraham Ancer achieved a +1, the Colombian Sebastián Muñoz had a +2 and the Mexican Carlos Ortiz finished equally this first round with a +2.

He began playing golf at the age of 3 at the “Club de Campo del Mediterráneo”, where his father Victor was a teacher. At 12 he was already champion of his club, four years later he became the youngest player to make the cut in a European Tour event, in the 1995 Turespaña Open Mediterranea.

This record was broken by amateur Jason Hark in the UBS Hong Kong Open . In the same year Garcìa became the youngest player to win the European Amateur Championship. In his amateur career he won everything: from the Topolino World Junior Championship (1994), to the European Championship (1995), to the British Amateur (1998).

He turned professional in 1999 after winning the title of best amateur at the Augusta Masters, achieving a hcp of +5.4 and an average in official match-play of 32 victories and only one defeat. In his first year as a pro, he immediately made his mark with a spectacular head-to-head with Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship, where he performed his most famous shot: an intentional slice from behind a tree with the ball landing on the green and García running and jumping to see the landing.

García has always been one of the strongest players from tee to green, with a very distinctive swing. He is one of the cornerstones of the European Ryder Cup team, in which he has 6 victories (2002, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2018) in 9 participations and has set the record for the youngest participant in the tournament (in 1999 edition).