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Sergio GarcÃa (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 250 weeks between 2000 and 2008^[1]^[2]). He reached a career high ranking of two after winning the HSBC Champions tournament in November 2008.

Career outline

GarcÃa 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 TurespaÃ±a Open Mediterranea. This record was broken by amateur Jason Hak in November 2008 at the UBS Hong Kong Open, beating GarcÃa's record by 107 days. Also in 1995, GarcÃa became the youngest player^[3] to win the European Amateur. In 1998, he won The Amateur Championship.

GarcÃa 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, GarcÃa 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 GarcÃa 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."^[4]

GarcÃa 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.

GarcÃa 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 14-3-3. 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.

In the 2006 Ryder Cup, at the K Club in Ireland, GarcÃa won both his fourball and foursome matches (with JosÃ© MarÃa OlazÃ¡bal 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 OlazÃ¡bal 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, GarcÃa 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 18Â½ points to the United States' 9Â½ points.

Earlier in 2007, GarcÃa had encountered criticism when he spat in the cup during the WGC-CA Championship after three-putting.^[5] After missing the cut of the first two major championships in 2007, GarcÃa 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 PÃ¡draig Harrington that he eventually lost by one stroke. In his post-round news conference, GarcÃa 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 GarcÃa 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.^[6]

On 11 May 2008, GarcÃa 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 GarcÃa played a sand wedge to within four feet of the hole. Goydos made double bogey while GarcÃa made par for the win.^[7] At the 2008 PGA Championship, he narrowly missed out winning his first professional major championship yet again. Like the 2007 Open Championship, PÃ¡draig Harrington was able to erase a GarcÃa lead on the back nine for the championship. GarcÃa 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.^[8] Regarding another near-miss in a major championship, GarcÃa 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 CastellÃ³ Masters Costa Azahar at his home course, the Club de Campo del MediterrÃ¡neo in CastellÃ³n, Spain. With this win, he rose to a career high of third in the Official World Golf Rankings.^[9] 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. GarcÃa earned more money than any other golfer in 2008, earning $6,979,959 in 26 events.^[10]

After his success in 2008, Garcia 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.

Personal life

A bachelor, he drives a Ferrari 360 Modena and a Jaguar XJR.^[11] One of his most notable ex-girlfriends is former world number-one tennis player Martina Hingis, who helped him cope with the emotional side of the game.^[12] He has also had an on-and-off relationship with Greg Norman's daughter, Morgan-Leigh Norman, a graduate of Boston College;^[13]^[14]^[15] however, Garcia has confirmed the couple have now separated.^[16]

Additionally, he keeps a close friendship with the Uruguayan football player Diego ForlÃ¡n. They first met in CastellÃ³n when the latter was playing for the nearby La Liga club Villarreal.^[17] More recently, he has developed a close rapport with young Colombian star golfer Camilo Villegas, with the two often dining together at night and ribbing one another in both English and Spanish by day while on tour.^[16] Also, Garcia has a close friendship with world tennis star Rafael Nadal.

Golf equipment

GarcÃa has an endorsement deal with TaylorMade-adidas Golf,^[18] and uses all TaylorMade clubs. His club lineup is as follows:

GarcÃa also plays the new TaylorMade Penta TP five piece golf ball. The ball will be available December 2010.^[19] There is also unofficial video documentation of a press conference where Snell speaks on the new TP balls while GarcÃa demonstrates some shots.^[20]

Professional wins (19)

PGA Tour wins (7)

European Tour wins (8)

Other wins (4)

Results in major championships

LA = Low Amateur
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
DQ = disqualified
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Results in World Golf Championship events

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Trivia

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