PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sergio Garcia lifted his putter as if it were a scepter for everyone crowded around the 17th island hole to see and kissed the blade.
This is the image that burned the brightest with his victory sealed at The Players Championship. For one glorious Sunday, the instrument that has caused such torment in his golf life was his ally again.
He reigned supreme over a most unruly TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course with more than phenomenal ball striking. He prevailed in tough, windy conditions with a resuscitated putting stroke that gives him hope that his first major championship victory may await.
“This feels like a major,” Garcia, 28, said after defeating Paul Goydos with a par on the first hole of their sudden-death playoff. “It tests you like a major, but unfortunately, it’s not.”
Garcia became the first European winner of The Players Championship in 21 years with a sure pass of his sand wedge at the famed 17th hole in the playoff. He magnificently carved a shot over all that water and through all that wind to 4 feet.
He did this after watching Goydos, the 43-year-old journeyman who won the affection of so many fans this week, knock a pitching wedge short and into the water.
After a penalty drop and hitting wedge to 12 feet, and then missing his bogey putt, Goydos watched helplessly.
“There’s no defense,” Goydos said. “I couldn’t tackle the little guy. He’s probably not that little. He could probably take me, but there’s no knee-capping him.”
It’s that good humor that brought Goydos such favor Sunday. There were fans in tears leaving the course after he lost.
“In a sense, from a crowd standpoint, not a talent standpoint, I got to be Tiger Woods for a day,” said Goydos, who shot a final-round 74.
With winds gusting to 40 mph, Garcia shot 71, gaining a playoff spot with a 5-under 283 total.
