Sergio Garcia had been all but forgotten by the golfing public, which is just another reason he savoured his victory at the Players Championship.

It speaks volumes of how far Garcia had fallen from public consciousness that a spectator at last month's Masters was overheard questioning whether the Spaniard was even in the field.

"I don't think Sergio's playing this week," the man said to his buddies.

He could be forgiven for thinking that, because Garcia was a complete non-entity at the Masters, missing the halfway cut. It was the latest in a series of disappointing performances since his play-off loss at last year's Open.

With his putting struggles apparently continuing, Garcia's name did not exactly feature prominently in pre-tournament discussions at Sawgrass either.

But Garcia was helped by nature, which served up four consecutive days of extremely strong winds that turned the Players Championship into a shot-making, rather than a putting contest.

And Garcia was clearly the best player in the field from tee to green, hitting more fairways and finding more greens in regulation than anyone else.

If he had putted well the first three rounds he would have won in a canter, but it was not until the final round that his long-lost putting touch came around, at just the right time.

Sure, he missed a couple of short ones, but so did nearly everyone else in the wicked winds that made even three-footers difficult.

Finally reaping the fruits of some hard work with his new short game instructor, the American former touring pro Stan Utley, the Spaniard sank one of the biggest putts of his life, a seven-footer at the final regulation hole that earned him a play-off with Paul Goydos.

Garcia, who shot a brilliant 71 to tie Goydos (74) at five-under-par 283, subsequently won with a par at the first extra hole, the par-three 17th, where Goydos found the water with his tee shot.

Garcia, 28, just the second European winner after Sandy Lyle, received US$1.71million (around £850,000) for his seventh US PGA Tour victory.

He admitted he was thoroughly sick of media criticism of his putting.

When asked what was the best part of winning, he did not hesitate: "Not having to listen to you guys," he said.

"It definitely gives me something to prove. You're going to criticise the best player in the history of golf (Tiger Woods), so how are you not going to criticise somebody else who is smaller than that?

"The only thing I can do is keep getting better so I make your job harder to be able to criticise me.

"I know when I'm putting badly and when I'm putting well, so nobody else needs to tell me.

"There have been times when you doubt yourself. You don't know if you're working on the right things."

Only time will tell whether this victory, the biggest of Garcia's career, will have much long-term significance, but it will do wonders to erase the self-doubt, at least for a while.

"The only thing this tells me is to keep working hard and believe in myself," he said.

"When I do believe in myself, I think there are not a lot of guys out there that can beat me."

When he is putting well, there can be no doubt of that.