Sergio Garcia's stunning birdie at the last clinches Sanderson Farms title
Stunning birdie finish earns Garcia his 36th professional victory, and his 11th on the PGA Tour.
Monday 5 October 2020 06:25, UK
Sergio Garcia captured his first victory in the US since the 2017 Masters after producing an outstanding finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.
Tied for the lead with Peter Malnati heading up the tough 18th, Garcia hammered a perfect drive up the left side of the fairway and then drilled his approach to two feet to set up the winning birdie which capped a closing 67 which lifted him to 19 under par.
Garcia's last-gasp birdie was only the sixth over the entire final day at the Country Club of Jackson, and it came four holes after he leapt back into a share of the lead with an eagle at the 14th.
Malnati was five shots off the pace overnight, but he stormed into contention when he birdied three of the first four holes and also began the back nine with three consecutive gains, and a repeat of his 2015 win looked likely when he holed from outside 30 feet on the penultimate green.
The American parred the last to complete a nine-under 63 which earned him the clubhouse lead for close to two hours, with Garcia recovering from a rocky patch towards the end of his front nine to edge back into the mix.
Garcia birdied the first and third before his "eyes closed" putting technique faltered on the sixth when he missed a five-foot putt for par, although his response was immediate and highly impressive when he nailed a 30-footer for birdie on the next.
But the Spaniard pulled his drive into water at the eighth and did well to two-putt from long range to limit the damage to a single bogey, and he ended the front nine in style with his fourth birdie at the ninth before putting together a solid run of pars.
Needing to make something happen to catch Malnati, Garcia attacked the par-five 14th and launched a remarkable 260-yard second which cleared the front bunker by only a few feet, the soft landing in the rough proving crucial as his ball trickled onto the green and settled three feet from the flag.
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The subsequent eagle putt was never in doubt, but he almost gave a shot back at the driveable 15th when he fluffed a chip into a bunker and scrambled hard to save par from six feet, and he came within an inch of holing a long-range birdie putt on 17 with Malnati on the range preparing for a play-off.
But Malnati sportingly acknowledged Garcia's stunning approach to the last as he packed up his gear and headed home with his wife and young daughter, leaving the stage clear for Garcia to celebrate his 36th professional victory.
"The perfect ending for an amazing week," said Garcia, who was making his first appearance in the event. "I obviously knew that Peter finished at 18 under, 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 and 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 eight-iron into the green instead of having a six-iron or something like that.
"Funnily enough, my last win on the PGA Tour at Augusta, the eight-iron on 15, this time it was the eight-iron on 18, and to almost hit the pin again and to hit it that close, obviously it was a dream come true."
Overnight joint-leader JT Poston rounded off the podium finishers after a disappointing 70 which included a bogey at 16 when just one off the lead, while Keegan Bradley (69) and Sweden's Henrik Norlander (65) closed on 15 under to complete the top five.
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