Former Masters winner Sergio Garcia birdied his final hole to claim a first title in more than a year at the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship.
The Spaniard had eagled the 14th to reach 18-under par for the tournament but with Peter Malnati in the clubhouse at that number, Garcia knew one more was needed. Perhaps it wasn’t his intention to leave it to the last hole but that’s how it transpired and Sergio wasn’t shy about delivering the hammer blow when he needed to.
“Yeah, obviously the perfect way, the perfect ending for an amazing week,” he reflected.
“I obviously knew that Pedrito — he finished at 18, so I knew that I needed to birdie one of the last two or three to get ahead. I actually thought I birdied 17. I hit a great putt. I thought I made it. Unfortunately I didn’t.
“But then I stood up on 18 and I did what I’ve been doing all week. I trusted myself. I aimed down the right side of the fairway and just hit a hard draw, really, really nice drive, actually went quite long because it was playing a little bit into the wind, and it gave me the ability to have an 8-iron into the green instead of having a 6 or something like that.
“Then just hit, funny enough, my last win, Augusta — well, my last win on the PGA Tour at Augusta, the 8-iron on 15, this time it was the 8-iron on 18, and to almost hit the pin again and to hit it that close, obviously it was a dream come true.”
The win means Garcia has now won a title in each of his last 10 years on Tour while the timing of this one might be significant with a November trip down Magnolia Lane waiting just around the corner.
“Well, it’s obviously a boost of confidence, there’s no doubt,” he acknowledged.
“Every time you play well, even if I would have not won it, it still would have been a massive high for me this week. To be able to do a lot of the things that I did, it meant a lot. It showed me a lot of what I still have and what I still can do.
“It’s obviously exciting. I’m finally very happy with the equipment that I have in my bag, with everything that I’m playing. I feel like I’m starting to be the old me, being able to hit shots from every angle, and obviously it’s exciting.”
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