Garcia's First Win in 3 Years

Filed in archive Golf News on May 12, 2008

Courtesy: img.timeinc.net

There is one thing that professional golfers want to do more than anything else: win tournaments.

And since there can only be one winner each week, the finale of the Tournament Players Championship was made even more dramatic.

Sergio Garcia, who hadn't won anything in 3 years, edged out Paul Goydos who has only won twice in 11 years.



Who deserved it more? That's a tough one. If you pull for sentimental favorites, then you'd have to say that Goydos did. He's a single dad raising two daughters - he needs the money.

But wait - he finished second and took home more than a million bucks. Whaddaya mean he needs the money?

It was a big pay day for Goydos. Prior to the TPC, his pay checks for 2008 were as follows: 45,796; 12,834; 12,238; 10,335; 31,969; 9,996; 66,000. All figures in U.S. dollars.

Not bad if you're single and living in a small condo. But he's got a family and he's the sole parent. I can't remember which dumb TV commentator mentioned that Goydos didn't even have a logo deal for his but it didn't matter because "what's a couple of hundred thousand dollars, anyway?"

I rooted for Goydos to win.

But Garcia can plead a good case, too. He's filled with talent yet is probably his own worst enemy as far as his mental game is concerned. He can be too easily rattled and we saw how his putting game collapsed at last year's Open at Carnoustie.

No longer should they talk about Jean Van de Velde blowing the Open; Garcia did the same thing and he did it "with brass knobs on it", as my dear old Mother would say.

But the gritty Spaniard got busy and took on Stan Utley as his putting coach.

Presto! Garcia is re-born and he now has a fresh new opportunity to prove that he deserves to win majors. He's a pure ball striker with immense distance. Now his putting stroke appears to be healed.

So it's hard not to pull for him, as well.

Yes, the Tournament Players Championship promoted the two best players to the forefront and arranged for them to meet in a playoff, to boot.

Both of them wanted to win and win badly. For very different reasons.