Sergio spiky over ‘cheat’ talk

Sergio Garcia said he was “disgusted” to be suspected of cheating after video emerged of a possible rules violation during his opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Garcia was seen tapping down something on the line of his putt on the 18th green, which would have been in breach of the rules if it was a spike mark.

The world number 10 explained that it was in fact a pitch mark and European Tour chief referee John Paramor ruled Garcia was in the clear.

“I talked to John and I said I’m pretty sure it was a pitch mark that I repaired,” Garcia said after a second round 68 saw him make the halfway cut of level par.

“The confusion was that I repaired it and then Martin (Kaymer) was going to putt, so I backed away. And then what you can see in the video is him putting, hitting it to tap it in and I’m tapping the pitch mark down.”