European Tour Mallorca ClassicSergio Garcia insisted he had no regrets about turning down the chance of a €1.5 million pay-day after impressing on the first day of the Mallorca Classic.
Garcia fired a four-under-par 66 at Pula Golf Club to share the clubhouse lead with compatriot Carlos Rodiles on a day when almost half the field were unable to complete their rounds due to morning thunderstorms.
Of the four Irish competing, only Philip Walton (71) and Gary Murphy (76) completed their rounds, with Peter Lawrie two over for 12 holes, and Damien McGrane a shot back after nine.
Garcia would win 166,000 if he can claim his first title on home soil since 2002 on Sunday evening, but that is dwarfed by the 1.5 million winner's cheque on offer at the World Matchplay at Wentworth this week.
The 24-year-old had qualified to play at Wentworth but chose instead to play in Mallorca.
"It's not all about the money," he said. "I feel the Spanish fans deserve to watch me play, it's my first time in Spain this year, and I'm really happy that I came here. Even if the weather had been horrendous here and great in England I think I've made a great decision."
The tournament also gives Garcia the chance to play in the 10th of the 11 events he needs to fulfil the membership requirements of the European Tour, which he needed to do to play in the Ryder Cup last month.
"I was always going to play in the Volvo Masters at Valderrama and I had to get one more in," he added. "Javier Gervas (tournament promoter) is a good friend of mine and he told me some good things about the tournament so I was thrilled to come here."
Garcia was as short as 3 to 1 favourite to win this week - "That's Tiger territory," he joked - but insisted he is not taking success for granted despite, at 12th, being the only player in the top 65 of the world rankings taking part.
"I don't come here thinking this is a done deal," he added after a round containing five birdies and just one bogey, which was interrupted twice by thunderstorms.
Rodiles has had to battle back to the sort of form that earned him second place in last year's Volvo Masters after a play-off with Swede Fredrik Jacobson.
A rib injury caused by an awkward turn in early-season kept him out for 10 events, though he proved his fitness with a second place three weeks ago in the Heritage event at Woburn behind Henrik Stenson.
Spain dominated the clubhouse leaderboard, with Santiago Luna and Thomas Munoz sharing third place with Sweden's Robert Karlsson.
Britain's Simon Khan, who has played 13 holes, and Frenchman Francois Delamontagne, after nine, will resume their rounds on five-under.
MallorcaClassic: First round scores
(British unless stated, Irish in bold)
Play suspended, 60 players to complete first round today.
66 - Carlos Rodiles (Spn), Sergio Garcia (Spn).
67 - Santiago Luna (Spn), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Tomas Jesus Munoz (Spn).
68 - Fernando Roca (Spn).
69 - Oyvind Rojahn (Nor), Richard Sterne (Rsa), Marcel Siem (Ger), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Euan Little, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Van Phillips, Marcus Fraser (Aus).
70 - Wade Ormsby (Aus), Brad Kennedy (Aus), Iain Pyman, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Paul Streeter.
71 - Johan Edfors (Swe), Brian Davis, Miguel Angel Martin (Spn), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Jonathan Lomas, Sven Struver (Ger), Joakim Rask (Swe), Philip Golding, Carlos Balmaseda (Spn), Philip Walton.
72 - Gustavo Rojas (Arg), Christopher Hanell (Swe), Ross Fisher, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spn), Simon Wakefield, Raymond Russell, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg), Francisco Cea (Spn), (x) Sebastion Garcia Grout (Spn).
73 - Daniel Gaunt (Aus), Mattias Nilsson (Swe), Martin Maritz (Rsa), Gary Orr, Mads-Vibe Hastrup (Den), James Kingston (Rsa), Peter Baker, Dean Robertson, Mark Foster, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Cesar Monasterio (Arg), Jesus Maria Arruti (Spn).
74 - Karl Ableidinger (Aut), Roope Kakko (Fin), Nick Dougherty, Andrew Raitt.
75 - Jarrod Moseley (Aus), Malcolm Mackenzie, Gary Birch Jr, Chris Gane.
76 - Craig Spence (Aus), Diego Borrego (Spn), Andrew Oldcorn, Gary Murphy.
77 - Greig Hutcheon, Matthew Blackey, Martin Wiegele (Aut).
78 - Sarel Son-Houi (Fra), Victor Casado (Spn), Mikko Ilonen (Fin).
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