Victorious Garcia with Byron Nelson (Getty Images).
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Sergio Garcia paid tribute to the event's host after parring the first extra
hole to win the Byron Nelson Championship in a three-way play-off at the Four
Seasons TPC in Texas.
"Byron has been a great supporter of the game and it means a lot to win his
tournament," said Garcia, whose victory was witnessed by the 92-year-old legend
after whom the tournament is named.
This was the Spaniard's first victory on the PGA Tour in more than two years
and it vindicated the swing change he undertook 18 months ago.
"The swing held up nicely," said Garcia, who led the field for greens in
regulation and may have won quite comfortably if he had putted a little better.
Garcia started the final round with a two-shot advantage but carded a
one-over-par 71 to finish tied with Robert Damron (66) and Dudley Hart (67) at
10 under on 270 - one stroke ahead of Tiger Woods, Tim Herron and Duffy
Waldorf.
Damron made his move with an eagle at the par-four 15th with a seven-iron from
172 yards.
Hart closed strongly with three birdies in the final five holes but combined
with Damron to hand Garcia the title.
On the first play-off hole - the par-four 18th - Hart made double-bogey while
Damron missed a four-foot par putt, leaving Garcia to tap in for his fourth PGA
Tour victory.
"I've had that putt before and under the situation just didn't trust it,"
said Damron, who missed left. "I knew it broke and I hit a weak putt."
Garcia was branded as a potential long-term rival to Woods when he burst on to
the professional scene in 1999, pushing the American to the wire at the PGA
Championship and becoming the youngest European to play in the Ryder Cup.
Hart admitted he had made a mess of the play-off but was happy to at least go
down fighting.
"I got a little over-aggressive, but I'd rather make a mistake being
aggressive than being passive," he said after putting his approach shot over
the green into deep rough.
Hart is on the comeback trail after a back injury and recently placed fourth
in Houston.
Woods, who shot 69, missed the play-off by one shot for the second successive
week, despite struggling again with the driver.
"I hit four good shots that were landing in the fairway and running into the
rough," said Woods. "It's a little disappointing because I had a chance, even
as poorly as I played."
Woods will play only one of the next four tournaments before the US Open but
Garcia is playing three of the four, and he cannot wait to get to Shinnecock
Hills for the year's second Major.
"I love the Majors so much because it's not so much of a putting shoot-out,"
the Spaniard added. "You cannot putt your best and still be up there in
contention."
Collated final-round scores (USA unless
stated, par 70):
270 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 66 68 65 71, Dudley Hart 65 71 67 67, Robert Damron 67
69 68 66 (Garcia wins play-off at 1st extra hole)
271 Tim Herron 69 70 68 64, Tiger Woods 65 67 70 69, Duffy Waldorf 67 70 66
68
272 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 66 69 69 68, Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 70 66 67, Shigeki
Maruyama (Jpn) 70 70 66 66, Nick Price (Zim) 66 71 69 66
273 Jerry Kelly 66 68 67 72, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 67 69 66 71, Mark O'Meara 67
66 70 70
274 Scott Verplank 71 66 67 70, David Branshaw 70 69 67 68, Chris DiMarco 69
70 65 70, Matt Gogel 69 69 68 68, Carlos Franco (Par) 70 70 67 67, Brian Bateman
69 69 69 67, Luke Donald (Gbr) 68 71 64 71
275 Tjaart Van der Walt (Rsa) 69 68 68 70, Tom Carter 68 69 69 69, Rory
Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 69 70 67, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 66 72 66 71, Briny Baird 69
69 65 72, Bo Van Pelt 70 69 66 70
276 Ted Purdy 68 69 67 72, Shaun Micheel 67 68 71 70, Chris Smith 66 72 70 68,
John Daly 68 71 71 66, Jonathan Byrd 67 67 70 72, Harrison Frazar 68 69 70 69,
Brandt Snedeker 70 66 71 69
277 Justin Leonard 69 70 68 70, Hank Kuehne 70 69 65 73, Kent Jones 68 72 67
70, Jesper Parnevik (See) 67 73 69 68, Russ Cochran 70 68 68 71, Kevin Na (Kor)
71 66 69 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 67 71 69 70
278 Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 67 68 74, Bob Tway 68 69 69 72, Zach Johnson 68 69
68 73, Kevin Sutherland 68 71 68 71, J J Henry 68 71 66 73, Tommy Armour III 73
65 68 72, John Senden (Aus) 72 68 71 67
279 Jason Bohn 69 69 67 74, J.L. Lewis 64 74 68 73, Chad Campbell 73 67 69 70,
Peter Lonard (Aus) 64 70 71 74, Cameron Beckman 70 67 71 71, Bart Bryant 70 70
70 69
280 Rich Barcelo 68 71 69 72, Jay Williamson 66 71 73 70, Tom Byrum 71 69 68
72, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 66 68 72 74, Craig Perks (Nzl) 70 69 71 70
281 Jay Delsing 69 68 69 75, Neal Lancaster 70 67 71 73, Kenny Perry 67 70 71
73, Notah Begay III 68 72 70 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 67 68 78, Todd Hamilton 74
65 70 72, Todd Fischer 70 67 70 74, Mike Weir (Can) 69 69 69 74
282 Greg Chalmers (Aus) 68 68 73 73, Pat Perez 71 68 71 72, John Cook 67 73 75
67, Mark Hensby (Aus) 68 71 67 76, Lee Janzen 70 68 71 73
283 Billy Andrade 70 70 71 72, Steve Lowery 68 69 70 76, Kevin Durkin 66 70 73
74
285 Scott Simpson 71 69 74 71
286 Tommy Tolles 69 69 68 80
287 Ken Duke 70 70 73 74
288 Gene Sauers 71 69 75 73
290 Vaughn Taylor 71 69 73 77
295 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 70 69 79 77
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