Sergio Garcia birdies final hole to win Sanderson Farms Championship
Sergio Garcia claimed his 36th professional win and his first in the US since winning the Masters in 2017.
Sergio Garcia won his 36th professional title after he claimed the Sanderson Farms Championship when he made a dramatic birdie at the final hole.
The win for Garcia is his first on US soil since he won his first major at Augusta back in 2017 and he was holding back the tears after getting the job done on Sunday.
Standing on the 18th tee, Garcia was tied for the lead with Peter Malnati and the Spaniard bombed his drive up the left side of the fairway. What followed was nothing short of spectacular, when Garcia put his approach shot two feet from the hole to set up a tap-in birdie, capping a final round of 67 to finish the tournament 19-under par.
A perfect shot at the perfect time. @TheSergioGarcia needs birdie on the 72nd hole to win @Sanderson_Champ.
He just did this ... pic.twitter.com/z6UoP8txvC— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 4, 2020
RELATED: Sergio Garcia is putting with his EYES CLOSED on the PGA Tour
Malnati went into the final round five shots off the lead but quickly made his mark with three birdies in the first four holes. Three consecutive birdies followed as he made the turn and it looked as though the 2015 winner was going to be champion again when he rolled one in from outside 30 feet at the 17th.
A par at the last meant Malnati had secured a 9-under par round of 63, giving the American the clubhouse lead, with Garcia doing all he could to stay in the mix.
Garcia made birdies at the 1st and 3rd, before missing a short par putt at the 5th, but the Spaniard answered back in style with a 30 foot drain for birdie at the next.
A pulled drive at the 8th led to a bogey for Garcia, but again he bounced back with his fourth birdie of the day at the 9th before making a run of four pars on the back nine.
Everything changed for Garcia at the par-5 14th when he knew he needed something special to catch Malnati. Going for the green in two, Garcia flew a 260-yard shot perfectly over the bunker to end up three feet from the flag to set up and eagle three.
Three consecutive pars followed and all that was left was the challenging 18th at Country Club of Jackson, that only saw six birdies during the final round, including Garcia's after he played the final hole to perfection to win his 11th PGA Tour title.
