Monday 13 May 2013 08:34, UK
Tiger Woods held his nerve on the final day of the Players Championship to claim victory in golf's 'fifth major' at TPC Sawgrass.
The Spaniard would have loved nothing more than beating Woods after their third round spat. Instead, the 2008 winner at Sawgrass handed his long-time rival the crown when he found the water trap on the signature island hole twice. The pin was in a difficult position in the right corner, only a few yards from the water's edge, and rather than attempt a safe shot that would leave him with a tricky birdie putt, Garcia went for broke. "As the ball was in the air I was thinking, please be right, because it was straight at it. It was probably three feet left of the hole," Garcia said after his final round 76. "When it splashed, you think, well hopefully I hit a good shot after this and make (bogey) four and still have a chance on the next," he continued. Rather than play his next shot from the drop area - which he felt was a poor angle to the hole - he attempted the same shot again, which resulted in an almost identical outcome. "So I thought, I'll just hit the same shot a little bit harder and I did, but a little bit of breeze picked up and it bounced on top and came back (in the water). The next one I hit a little bit harder and finally got on the green." To make matters even worse, his tee shot on the final hole found another water trap and he had carded a double bogey six on the hole Woods had just made par on. The capitulation on the final two holes meant the 2008 winner at Sawgrass ended in a tie for eighth, six shots behind Woods. Despite his submission on the final two holes, the Spaniard was still in good spirits after the tournament "It doesn't bug me now. It happens," he said. "I've been fortunate on that hole. I've won my Players Championship on that hole," the 33-year-old, who won the title five years ago at 17 in a play-off against Paul Goydos, continued. "That hole has been good to me for the most part. Today it wasn't. That's the way it is. That's the kind of hole it is. You've got to love it for what it is."
