Sergio Garcia's quest to win a first Major Championship got off to a brilliant start at Augusta National as he opened up a two-shot lead in the final round of the Masters Tournament.
The Spaniard has 22 top tens in 73 career Majors but had only previously led once heading into the last 18 holes at the 2007 Open Championship.
He held a share of the lead coming into Sunday and, on what would have been the 60th birthday of countryman and all-time great Seve Ballesteros, he made two birdies in his first four holes to get to eight under and move ahead of Justin Rose.
Rickie Fowler was then at five under, a shot clear of Charley Hoffman.
Garcia made the perfect start as he put his approach on the first to five feet and he nearly had a second gain after an excellent bunker shot on the second but missed a short putt.
He had no such trouble on the third as he holed an eight-footer that turned a long way right to left and his lead was two shots.
While the chasing pack jostled behind him, they could not make a big move and were all level par in the early stages of their rounds, with Rose making four pars.
Fowler hit an excellent approach to birdie the third but gave the shot straight back while Hoffman had a birdie on the second and a bogey on the fifth in his first five.
Adam Scott birdied the fifth and bogeyed the sixth to stay three under, while Jordan Spieth joined him there with a bogey-birdie-bogey start.
The 1992 champion Fred Couples continued to delight the patrons with four birdies in his first ten holes to get to two under alongside 2011 winner Charl Schwartzel, Paul Casey and Ryan Moore.
Martin Kaymer had just five pars in his 16 holes, which included five birdies in a row from the ninth, to get to one under where he sat alongside World Number Two Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Thomas Pieters.
