Sergio García
Spain
Sergio García Fernández (born 9 January 1980) is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on both the United States PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has spent much of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings (over 300 weeks between 2000 and 2009. He reached a career high ranking of two after winning the HSBC Champions tournament in November 2008.
Personal information
Full name Sergio García
Nickname El Niño
Born 9 January 1980 (1980-01-09) (age 32)
Borriol, Castellón, Spain
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Nationality Spain
Residence Borriol, Castellón, Spain
Career
Turned professional 1999
Current tour(s) European Tour (joined 1999)
PGA Tour (joined 1999)
Professional wins 22
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 7
European Tour 10 (tied 30th all time)
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament T4: 2004
U.S. Open T3: 2005
The Open Championship 2nd: 2007
PGA Championship 2nd/T2: 1999, 2008
Equipment
Driver: TaylorMade Burner Superfast TP 9.5°, Mitsubishi Diamana X-flex shaft
Woods: TaylorMade Burner TP 13.5° (3 Wood), Mitsubishi Diamana 103 x flex shaft and TaylorMade R7 TP 17.5° (5 Wood), Mitsubishi Diamana 103 x flex shaft
Irons: TaylorMade R9 TP Irons (4-PW), Royal Precision Rifle Project X 6.5
Wedges: TaylorMade rac z TP 52°, 58°, 62°
Putter: Taylormade Tp Kia Ma Monte Carlo
Ball: Taylormade Penta TP
Rangefinder: Bushnell Slope Edition (Sponsored by Bushnell)
Career outline
García began playing golf at the age of three and was taught by his father, Victor. He was a star player as a junior, winning his club championship at age 12. Four years later, he set a record as the youngest player to make the cut at a European Tour event, the 1995 Turespaña Open Mediterranea. This record was broken by amateur Jason Hak in November 2008 at the UBS Hong Kong Open, beating García's record by 107 days. Also in 1995, García became the youngest player to win the European Amateur. In 1998, he won The Amateur Championship.
García turned professional in 1999 after shooting the lowest amateur score in the 1999 Masters Tournament. His first title on the European Tour came in his sixth start as a professional at the Irish Open. He first achieved worldwide prominence with a duel against Tiger Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship, where he eventually finished second. Late in the final round, García hit his most famed shot: with his ball up against a tree trunk and the green hidden from view, he swung hard with his eyes shut and hit a low curving fade that ran up onto the green. As the shot traveled, he sprinted madly into the fairway and then scissor-kick jumped to see the result. Shortly afterwards he became the youngest player ever to compete in the Ryder Cup.
When García first turned professional, he had an unorthodox swing with a loop and large lag, but during the 2003 season he worked towards making his swing more conventional. In his early years, he repeatedly gripped, released, and regripped his hands on the club handle before finally taking a shot. This "waggle" habit created a stir, especially at the 2002 U.S. Open when some spectators shouted out, "Hit the ball, Sergio!", and some people audibly counted the number of regrips into the twenties. Since then he has eliminated the habit. Responding to criticism of his swing, he said, "My swing works for me, so why should I change it? I prefer to have a natural swing and play well rather than a perfect swing and not be able to play good."
García won his first PGA Tour tournament at the 2001 MasterCard Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas and then won again at the Buick Classic the same year. In 2002, he won the Mercedes Championships, and in 2004, he won the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and the Buick Classic for the second time. His sixth PGA Tour victory came at the 2005 Booz Allen Classic. He also plays a limited schedule on the European Tour, where he has won nine times. In 2002, during a practice round, García made an albatross (double eagle) on the par-5 second hole at the Masters, one of the few players to have ever done so. On the 575-yard hole at the Augusta National Golf Club, he holed a 253-yard 2-iron following a 325 yard drive.
García was a member of the European Ryder Cup team in 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008 and holds an impressive career record at the Ryder Cup of 14-6-4. As three of his appearances have resulted in overall victories, his input in the team has proved invaluable. He had risen into the top five of the Official World Golf Rankings, but after an inconsistent 2006 season, he dropped out of the top 10.
García in 2004In the 2006 Ryder Cup, at the K Club in Ireland, García won both his fourball and foursome matches (with José María Olazábal and Luke Donald, respectively) on day one, beating David Toms and Brett Wetterich in the fourballs and Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk in the foursomes. On day two, he paired up with Olazábal again, who won both their matches against Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco in both the foursomes and fourballs. Going into the final day in the singles, García was heavily tipped to be the first person to win all their matches in one Ryder Cup; however, Stewart Cink beat him 4 and 3. Europe won the cup again, with 18½ points to the United States' 9½ points.
Earlier in 2007, García had encountered criticism when he spit in the cup during the WGC-CA Championship after three-putting. After missing the cut of the first two major championships in 2007, García found success at The Open Championship - his favorite of the four majors - at Carnoustie Golf Links. He held the lead after each one of the first three rounds and carried a 3-shot lead over Steve Stricker and a 6-shot lead over the rest of the field into the start of the fourth day. At an early stage of the last round, he had extended the lead to 4 shots, but bogeys at the 5th, the 7th, and the 8th holes brought him back to the field. On the final challenging hole, he needed a par to win, but failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker. The last putt on the 18th hole on Sunday would have given him his first professional major. He missed it by a fraction and faced a playoff with Pádraig Harrington that he eventually lost by one stroke. In his post-round news conference, García seemed to suggest that bad breaks had cost him the championship. During the playoff, on the 16th hole, his tee shot hit the flag stick but then bounced 20 feet from the pin, and García could not convert for birdie. " It's not the first time, unfortunately," he stated. "I don't know... I'm playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field." In the 2007 PGA Championship, he was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard after the third round.
García winning the 2008 Players Championship
On 11 May 2008, García won The Players Championship on the PGA Tour in a playoff against Paul Goydos. On the first playoff hole, the 17th, Goydos hit a pitching wedge that ballooned and fell inches short of the green and into the water, while García played a sand wedge to within four feet of the hole. Goydos made double bogey while García made par for the win.At the 2008 PGA Championship, he narrowly missed out winning his first professional major championship yet again. Like the 2007 Open Championship, Pádraig Harrington was able to erase a García lead on the back nine for the championship. García would finish two strokes back for his second runner-up finish at the PGA Championship. He did not make many mistakes during his final round, but his second shot on the 16th found the water which cost him sole ownership of the lead. Regarding another near-miss in a major championship, García stated, "I felt like I responded well, and he was obviously very good on the back nine, and things just happened his way." On 26 October 2008, he won his first European Tour title in over three years, at the first playing of the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar at his home course, the Club de Campo del Mediterráneo in Castellón, Spain. With this win, he rose to a career high of third in the Official World Golf Rankings. He dedicated the victory to compatriot Seve Ballesteros, who was recovering from multiple operations on a brain tumor. He won the 2008 HSBC Champions, the opening event on the 2009 European Tour season on 9 November 2008 in a playoff over Oliver Wilson. This win notched him up to a career high second in the Official World Golf Rankings, replacing Phil Mickelson in that spot, who ironically won the HSBC Champions in 2007. García earned more money than any other golfer in 2008, earning $6,979,959 in 26 events.
After his success in 2008, García had a very disappointing season in 2009, rarely contending and finished ranked 74th on the PGA Tour money list. He had more success on the European Tour where he finished tenth in the inaugural Race to Dubai. His slump continued into 2010, and after the USA PGA Championship García announced he was taking a break from golf and would miss the 2010 Ryder Cup. He also dropped out of the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings.
On the 29 August 2010, European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie announced that García would be his 4th vice captain for the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.
In October 2011, García ended a three year title drought with victory in his home country at the Castelló Masters. García finished the tournament at 27-under-par, 11 strokes ahead of the field. It was the joint third highest victory margin on the European Tour, beaten only by Tiger Woods' 15 stroke victory at the 2000 U.S. Open and Ernie Els' 13 stroke win at the 2005 BMW Asian Open. García entered the final round with an 8 stroke advantage, then fired his second round of 63. After the win, García dedicated it to the late Seve Ballesteros, stating "That was for Seve." Garcia moved back into the top 40 in the world after this win.
The following week, García won the Andalucía Masters, played at the Club de Golf Valderrama, arguably regarded as one of the toughest golf courses on the European Tour. He edged out fellow countryman Miguel Ángel Jiménez by one shot after a tense final round.] Following his back-to-back wins, García moved back into the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
Player profile is based on the information provided by www.en.wikipedia.org