Garcia on Woods: 'big question mark remains'

Sergio Garcia says there is a “big question mark” over Tiger Woods as he makes his first start in 2018 at the Farmers Insurance Open tomorrow.

The 14-time major champion made his comeback from injury at the Hero World Challenge last month, where he played well, but the Spaniard is not totally convinced.

“I mean, I don’t know...it’s a big question mark to see how he’s going to be able to do physically. I think that he looked pretty good at the Hero Challenge. But he has looked good at the Hero Challenge [in previous years] and then he hasn’t lasted too long.

“So hopefully he’s able to get in a bit of a rhythm when it comes down to playing tournaments. But nobody knows. I think I can say that probably he doesn’t even know how his back and his body is going to cope with everything that goes on with playing tournaments and practising and everything that comes with it. So we’ll see.”

Garcia and Woods have endured a fractious relationship - openly taking shots at each other in the past.

“He’s done so much for the game,” the Spaniard added. “If he’s not there, will the game of golf fall apart? I don’t think so. But like I always say, the more sugar, the sweeter. So the more big-time players we have on tour, the better it is for the game globally and he’s obviously one of those.”

Garcia won the Sigapore Open last week, his first event with his new Callaway equipment.