Golf: Garcia grabs lead in Sydney

Sergio Garcia shot a brilliant nine-under-par 64 in the opening round of the Greg Norman Holden International in Sydney.

The Spaniard, seeking his first victory for 16 months, hardly put a foot wrong on a morning of spectacular scoring at The Lakes.

Shaking off the effects of jet-lag - he arrived from Pebble Beach only on Tuesday morning - Garcia grabbed no fewer than nine birdies in the glorious sunshine.

What 21-year-old described as "a great round" was good enough only for a one-stroke lead, however, as European Order of Merit leader Pierre Fulke birdied three of his last four holes for a 65.

And the chasing pack were not far back either. Tournament host Norman, who celebrates his 46th birthday on Saturday, came in with a 66, as did Welshman Phillip Price, Londoner Daren Lee and New Zealander Steve Alker.

But Nick Faldo could not get in on the fun. As the wind picked up after lunch Faldo managed only a two-over-par 38 for the front nine.

Garcia had two rounds of 62 within three months of turning professional in 1999 - one in Texas and the other at Loch Lomond. But they were par 70 and 71 respectively, so today's effort equals the most he has ever been below par in one round.

"After a couple of good nights' sleep I felt great," he said. "I started hitting the ball really good and made some nice early birdies. It kept me going for the whole round."

The score, one outside the course record set by Adam Scott playing as an amateur last year, could easily have been lower. Garcia needed only a seven-iron for his second shot to the dogleg 534-yard 14th - his fifth - but had to settle for par after hitting it into sand.

It stopped him making it four birdies in a row, but a 15-foot putt on the next green got him moving forward again and in addition to making more birdies on the next three par fives he holed from 20 feet at the 384-yard fifth and pitched to three feet on the 341-yard sixth.

Garcia decided to play the event only three months ago. He is also playing next week's Australian Masters in Melbourne, but this week's tournament had the added attraction of carrying Ryder Cup points.

Playing as much as he does in America, he knows he will be appearing in only a limited amount of cup-counting events and wants to make them all count. Captain Sam Torrance would be delighted if he does.