Garcia’s gamesmanship gives Rickie Fowler the win

A very surprising concession on the part of Spaniard Sergio Garcia on the seventh at Dove Mountain was the talk of the town at the World Golf Championship – Accenture Match Play Championship, as the Spanish golfer gave American youngster Rickie Fowler a halve as the former amateur world number one ran away with the victory in the first round.

Down two down on the seventh, as well as facing a seventeen foot par putt, Fowler looked down and out of it with Garcia near a four foot attempt at a par when all of a sudden he offered Fowler the chance to split the hole.

The 34 year old admitted later that he felt guilty about how long it had taken him on the previous hole to take a drop and he went on to explain to Rickie Fowler that he wanted to clear his conscience and would have no problems in halving the hole.

Fowler was astounded to say the least but he did take up the offer and although he trailed Garcia at that time, he managed to claw back into it before taking the tie in the end.

And speaking of the incident, Garcia stated that he doesn’t regret his decision at all, adding that Fowler played a lot better than him on the last ten holes and he deserved to go through to the next round.

He went on to add that this is a gentleman’s game but lately, there have been some instances which have put that status in doubt and he doesn’t like how things have changed now and believes it is against the morals his dad brought him up with while teaching him the game.

And Rickie Fowler will be one man extremely pleased to find someone still abiding by the old world values of golf.