Sergio Garcia won his first event on US soil since the 2017 Masters when capturing the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship.
After failing to make the FedEx Cup playoffs and falling out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since 2011, the 40-year-old Spaniard won his 10th career PGA Tour event with a birdie on the final hole.
Garcia hit a 5-wood that barely cleared a bunker and set up an eagle putt from just inside 4 feet to tie for the lead, and he won the Sanderson Farms Championship with an 8-iron to 30 inches to set up a birdie on the final hole.
”I stood up on 18 and I did what I’ve been doing all week. I trusted myself,” Garcia said. ”I aimed down the right side of the fairway and just hit a hard draw – really nice drive – and it gave me the ability to have an 8-iron into the green instead of having a 6 or something like that.”
Garcia had only one top 10 since golf resumed in June because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he missed the cut in three of his four tournaments coming into the Sanderson Farms Championship. Garcia also learned that his father’s brother, Angel, died of the coronavirus a week ago Saturday. His father lost another brother, Paco, to the virus at the onset of the pandemic. He choked up talking about them right after his round.
”It’s been tough on my dad,” he said. ”This one is for them.”
Garcia now has won at least once worldwide in each of his last 10 years, a streak he shares with Justin Rose. He won for the 11th time on the PGA Tour, and the 31st time worldwide. He finished on 19-under and moves to No. 38 in the world.
J.T. Poston, who started the final round in at three-way tie with Garcia and Cameron Davis of Australia, was one shot behind when he missed the 16th fairway to the right, went into a bunker and failed to save par. He finished with two pars for a 70 to finish alone in third. Davis had three bogeys on the front nine and was never a factor, closing with a 72.
Peter Malnati had four birdies on the front nine and then began the back nine with three straight birdies. After making a 10-foot par putt on the 14th, he added two more birdies for a 63. He never thought it was going to be good enough to win. Except for a great shot by Garcia on the final hole, it was almost good enough for a playoff.
”I feel like I won the tournament,” Malnati said after his round. ”I probably won’t, but I feel like I did, and it’s amazing.”
He spent the rest of the day playing with his toddler son, and then came out to the 18th to see Garcia and saw a clutch finish for the Spaniard.
Garcia heads for Las Vegas, with the Masters just over a month away. ”A boost of confidence, there’s no doubt,” Garcia said. ”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.”