Sergio Garcia faced many questions going into last week - balky putting, diminished ball striking, and a three year winless streak. However, he answered them all in resounding fashion defeating Paul Goydos to win The Players Championship.
The final round presented a unique challenge at TPC Sawgrass. High winds and a firm fast golf course lead to high scores. Although The Players is not an official major, the course showed why it has earned the title "5th Major." Sergio Garcia described the day, "It was one of the hardest days of golf and I was playing well, but it was so difficult. There were so many things you couldn’t control. I mean, I hit so many good shots that I thought were perfect, and I wasn’t even smelling the green."
But the spotlight equally focused on the collapse of Paul Goydos who held the lead for much of the tournament. In the end it was Garcia who capitalized where Goydos couldn’t when on the 18th the one shot lead he held over Garcia was erased with a final bogey.
On the first playoff hole, the devilish 17th, Goydos put his tee shot short in the water, and all of a sudden Garcia found the 17th green growing exponentially larger. Garcia said, "I was on a high. You know, I came from making the putt on 18 and put myself into the playoff."
Not only has Garcia answered many questions about the state of his game, but he also showed significant improvement with the putter, commenting, "the game of golf is not only about hitting the ball. That’s the beauty of it. You have to have every single part of your game in shape. You know, you can be a great ball-striker, but if you can’t finish it off… You’ve just got to work on every single aspect of your game."
Without a doubt, this is the biggest win of Garcia’s career. At a time when many questioned whether or not he would ever win a major, he has become a major contender for the remaining three in 2008. "I’m looking forward to keep going. I don’t want to get stuck here. I want to have a good year and keep giving myself chances of winning more events and having a major if I can," said Garcia.
Do we think Sergio came through partly because of the conditions. The Europeans are better wind players than the Americans - as a generalisation.
peter
Comment by Peter
— May 13, 2008 @ 12:10 am
Goydos should have won the Players. I think the first time Goydos hit the green on the 17th hole on Sunday was a shot that was fulled with adrenaline which gave him the perfect distance. Although the second time around in the playoff he fell short into the water and I think it happened because he was so sure because he just hit the green a few minutes ago. But this time he didn’t hit it with the same amount of adrenaline, instead he hit it too smooth and came up short. One thing I learned is to make sure you hit the safe side of the 17th green on a sudden death against Sergio. you know Sergio is a weak putter on Sundays. I’m sure Goydos would have won if played it safe on the 17th hole, both would have parred the hole and Goydos would have won on tournament on the 18th.
Comment by Juansky
— May 13, 2008 @ 12:16 am