Garcia grabs Players Championship golf title with playoff triumph

PONTE VEDRA, Florida (AFP) - Spain's Sergio Garcia parred the dangerous island 17th hole in a playoff to defeat Paul Goydos here Sunday and win the US PGA Players Championship, taking the biggest title of his career.

The victory was the first in three years for the 28-year-old Spaniard, who saved a par at the last hole to fire a final-round 71, one-under par, to match US veteran Goydos after 72 holes at five-under par 283.

In the playoff, a wind gust sent Goydos' tee shot into the water while Garcia put his tee shot four feet from the cup and two-putted for the victory.

"It's a lot of hard work that's starting to pay off," Garcia said. "It has been a lot of work. I feel like the last three years I've been playing tournaments well, played very nicely, but I haven't been able to win."

"Everything was so hard out there. I'm just so thrilled I was able to come through with the win."

Garcia became only the second European player to win the nine million-dollar tournament, the first since Sandy Lyle won a playoff 21 years ago on the third extra hole. That had been the last playoff at the Players until Sunday.

"Sergio shot under-par today. That's mind numbing," Goydos said. "He had a great round. Sergio played better than everybody else. Look at the stats. That's what's rewarded."

World number one Tiger Woods was absent while recovering from knee surgery but not forgotten by Garcia as he received the 1.7 million-dollar top prize from the nine million-dollar event.

"I want to thank Tiger for not being here," Garcia said. "That always makes things a little bit easier."

Goydos, a 43-year-old US journeyman who on Thursday became the first player to hit a ball in the water at the 17th this week, had his playoff tee shot swatted by swirling winds that dominated the day to doom his dream title bid.

"I saw it kind of hurting. But hey, it was a great week," Goydos said.

Goydos, who had managed only one prior top-25 finish since winning last January in Hawaii, led after 54 holes for the first time in 392 PGA events but made three bogeys in the last five holes to fall into his first career playoff.

The famed island hole on TPC at Sawgrass layout brought a cruel end to a week where Goydos chased only the third win of his 16-year career after he missed a nine-foot putt for victory on the 72nd hole.

"Paul has been playing awesome all week. He was hanging in there so nicely," Garcia said. "It was a really tough day. He got unlucky in the playoff when his shot got hit by a gust of wind. It didn't knock it down it just ballooned it."

American Jeff Quinney, seeking his first PGA title, took a bogey at the 72nd hole to finish third on 284.

American Briny Baird was fourth on 287, one stroke ahead of Canada's Stephen Ames and two better than South African Ernie Els and Americans Ben Crane, Tom Lehman and Brett Quigley.

After back-to-back bogeys, Goydos birdied the 16th to take a one-stroke lead over Garcia and Quinney and kept the margin entering the par-4 18th, the most difficult hole of the week with a final-round average score of 4.85 strokes.

Quinney found a bunker with his approach and blasted 15 feet past the pin while Garcia chipped his third shot six feet past the cup. Goydos found the rough off the tee and watched his rivals finish from there.

Garcia sank his par putt to stay one back while a bogey ended Quinney's hopes.

Goydos followed by laying up short of the green, chipping nine feet shy of the cup and missing his par putt to the right, setting up the playoff.

Goydos, who began the round with a one-stroke lead over Kenny Perry and a three-shot edge on Garcia, took bogeys at the second and third holes but dropped a 50-foot downhill birdie putt at the fourth.

After another bogey at the fifth, Goydos began the back nine with a birdie, blasting out of the rough and watching as the ball dropped on the green and rolled into the cup.

Garcia stepped up to the challenge, saving a par at the 10th with a 14-foot putt and making birdies at the 11th and 12th, the latter from 16 feet, to pull within one stroke of the lead.

Goydos stretched his lead with a birdie at 12, and a Garcia bogey at 13 boosted his lead to three. Garcia rebounded by rolling a 47-foot birdie at 14, and claimed his share of the lead after Goydos missed from six feet at both 14 and 15.