Musings: Confident Garcia prevails in playoff
Mon, 12 May 2008 06:30:00 -0500

He’s the winningest golfer on the PGA Tour under the age of 30, possessor of seven PGA Tour titles and another nine victories worldwide.

But there’s a downside. Not only has Sergio Garcia failed to shed the label of Best Player Never to Win a Major, but he also applied a vice grip to the dreaded distinction with his gritty win at the Players Championship.

Even if he would protest that it’s just as good as one of golf’s big four.

“It feels like a major, and it tests you like a major,” Garcia said.

It’s not a major. But in fairness to Garcia, that’s a discussion for another day. El Nino deserves to bask in the glory of the biggest win of his career, one that came against golf’s strongest field on a course that threw everything but the kitchen sink at a stumbling, crumbling leaderboard.

Amid wind gusts that sent caps and visors flying, Garcia rode a clutch putting performance and some typically precision ballstriking to a final-round one-under 71 that was good enough to force a playoff with 54-hole leader Paul Goydos, the hard-luck journeyman who became a folk hero to the massive galleries at the Stadium Course. Along the way, Garcia seemed to recapture some of the mojo that was missing from recent major failures, including last summer’s British Open, where he blamed everyone but the ghost of Young Tom Morris for his loss to Padraig Harrington.

After draining key par-savers at 17 and 18, Garcia watched as Goydos made bogey from the rough at 18, forcing a two-man playoff beginning at 17. After a gust of wind knocked Goydos’ tee shot from the sky into the water a few inches short of the island green at 17, Garcia hit one of the best shots of his 28 years, a towering wedge to four feet.

Missing in action this weekend was the tentative Sergio, the player who felt the golf gods were arrayed against him. This was a confident, aggressive Garcia, who cut loose with some Tiger-esque snarls and fist pumps. One has to wonder if those were directed at the tournament’s most famous spectator, who was undoubtedly watching with interest while nursing his surgically repaired knee.

Whatever the case, add one name to the list of contenders at next month’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

“The goal is to keep getting better, and the only thing this tells me is to keep working hard and to believe in myself,” Garcia said. “And when I do believe in myself, I think there’s not a lot of guys out there that can beat me.”

Goydos, bidding for only his third career win after years of personal turmoil and nagging health issues, was done in by a familiar nemesis. He was the first player to find the water at 17 on Thursday, and more importantly, the last player to do it on Sunday. Of the 65 balls hit into the water for the week on the diabolical par 3, Goydos’ were certainly the most consequential.

Ultimately, though, this was Sergio’s week, and something special may finally be brewing for the mercurial Spaniard. “He hits whatever shot is needed at a particular hole at a particular time,” Goydos said. “He’s a pretty impressive player.

“He’s right there on the precipice of great things.”

A Little Rain on Sergio’s Parade

A common refrain coming out of the Players Championship is likely to be: “Sergio can putt now; watch out.” But before we get too carried away with Garcia’s newfound genius on the greens, it’s important to glance at this week’s stats. As you might expect, Garcia was the best ballstriker of the tournament, but his putting still lagged, if you’ll pardon the pun. Here’s where Goydos and Garcia ranked in the field:

	Garcia	Goydos
Driving accuracy	1	T43
Greens in regulation	1	T46
Putts per round	T69	1

To be fair, though, Garcia’s putting on Sunday was clutch. After taking 34 putts during a third-round 73, Garcia had eight one-putts on Sunday, including a three-foot par saver on 17 — “The longest three feet I’ve ever seen,” he called it — and the seven-footer on 18 that ultimately forced the playoff.

Goydos Gracious in Defeat

Goydos, who led by three shots with five holes to go, was the embodiment of a gracious loser on Sunday, refusing to play the what-if game or to question the golf gods for his misfortune on the extra hole. “Look at the shot Sergio hit in the playoff,” he said. “I got beat. I played good golf. That doesn’t mean you win. There’s no defense. I can’t tackle the little guy. There’s no kneecapping. You have to accept the guy beat me. The key is to have the lead with no holes to go.”

Goydos provided a constant breath of fresh air, entertaining viewers with his ongoing commentary, much of it humble and self-deprecating. He didn’t win the tournament, but he won plenty of good will.

Bad Omen

As defending champion Phil Mickelson made his customary stroll from the putting green to the first tee to begin his final round, a gust of wind snatched the cap from his head and deposited it in a nearby pond. He proceeded to hook his opening tee shot, resulting in a double bogey, on his way to a 78 and a T21 finish. A 69 would have put Mickelson in the playoff with Garcia and Goydos.

Mickelson was far from a solitary struggler. Jesper Parnevik shot an 85 on the windswept Stadium Course, the highest score at the Players in five years. Kenny Perry, who played in the final pairing with Goydos, shot an 81.

She’s Back

Some had pretty much written off Annika Sorenstam as a challenger to Lorena Ochoa’s stranglehold on the LPGA Tour. And by some, I mean me.

I stand corrected. In a throwback performance, Sorenstam dominated a field that included Ochoa, winning the Michelob Ultra Open by five shots with a record 265 total.

Sorenstam said afterward that she’d love to get back to No. 1, setting up a nice summertime duel for dominance between her and Ochoa.