Sergio Garcia Breaks PGA Tour Winless Drought With Emotional Victory

Sergio Garcia won on the PGA Tour for the first time in three years this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He narrowly beat Peter Malnati by one-stroke which came thanks to a birdie on the final hole.

His last PGA Tour win came at the 2017 Masters where he famously beat Justin Rose in a playoff to win his sole Major title.

Related: Sergio Garcia What’s In The Bag?

Back to Jackson, Mississippi, Garcia was sublime all week leading the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, and driving distance.

Indeed on the final day despite their being some outstanding scoring, including Malnati’s 63, it was Garcia’s ball-striking, and two shots in particular that differentiated him from the rest.

The first came thanks to a towering five-wood which resulted in an eagle. And the second came at the 18th hole where, needing a birdie, Garcia proceeded to hit his approach to 30 inches or so. He then tapped in and the victory was his, his 11th on the PGA Tour.

It seemed ironic that Garcia’s final shot was a putt in which he closed his eyes. All week Garcia was questioned about it with one reporter saying it was the act of a desperate man. But ultimately it worked and Garcia said;

“I was believing in myself the whole week. I obviously hit a bad putt on six for par, but I stuck with it, I kept going, I kept believing, I kept telling myself you’re doing great, just keep doing what you’re doing, it’s great. You’re not going to make every single putt.”

It was unquestionably an emotional win for Garcia who mentioned Covid and the devastating impact it has had on his family;

“My father has a lot of family in Madrid,” Garcia said. “He’s one of nine siblings, and unfortunately we lost two of his brothers because of Covid, one at the beginning, Uncle Paco, and one just last Saturday actually – not yesterday but the Saturday before, Uncle Angel.

“You know, it’s sad,” he continued. “It’s sad. And I know that a lot of families have lost a lot more people, but you never want to lose anyone like that, and I wanted to win this for them.”

The win moves him from 48th in the world to 38th.

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