Play-off puts Garcia back on victory trail

Spaniard Sergio Garcia put the disappointment of missing out on the Dunlop Phoenix last weekend behind him to record a play–off victory over local hero Retief Goosen and win the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City today.

Garcia grabbed the £700,000 first prize after surviving a tense moment on the 18th where Goosen missed a difficult chance to win the tournament.

He then steered his play–off shot on the 16th to 12 feet from the hole while Goosen ended up 45 feet away.

After Goosen could not sink what would have been a remarkable putt to push the play–off further, Garcia calmly holed his putt to rapturous applause to claim his second title here in three years.

Coincidentally Garcia beat another South African, world number three Ernie Els, on the same hole to win the tournament on a play–off in 2001.

In Japan last week Garcia looked set for the title, then hit a disappointing 78 on the final round to miss out on the honours.

This weekend he was not about to let anything get in his way, although he admitted it was a tense finish.

"Anything could have happened out there," Garcia said. "Retief played very well, although I did have confidence to win it after finishing strong.

"I hit a lot of good shots coming in and I had my chances, although I didn't get too many of them.

"I tried to make something on the last few holes and not head towards to a play–off, but I didn't think Retief would miss that putt on 18.

"From then, it was just my luck."

Garcia's round started on a low note with a bogey on the first, surrendering the lead to Goosen.

But, after keeping in touch with the South African throughout, he got his chance on the 14th when Goosen was wayward with his approach shot, then three–putted for a bogey which brought the players level again.

"I was too excited and a bit nervous on the first hole and I did a quick swing and hit it way right. After that I calmed down, but to overcome that was difficult," Garcia added.

"I just said to myself 'There's no more pressure because no shot you hit now can be worse than that'."

Victory was made much sweeter thanks to the fact that Garcia's hard work on his grip has finally paid off. And the 23–year old Spaniard promised better things for the future.

"I feel better now and I feel a lot more comfortable and confident in my play and it showed this week," he said.

"Getting my swing right helps, more than anything, to get that feeling back.

"That's the most important thing, especially as I didn't play well for a while. There was a lot of trying times where I hated myself. It was good to win again, and I'm getting better as I go on."

Earlier, Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke set the course alight to try and charge the leaders with an opening 31, but found the going tougher on the back nine, where he could only birdie the 10th and finished off with a disappointing bogey on 18 to end in fourth spot on 10 under par.

"I wanted to go out there today and give myself a lot of chances, but I couldn't give myself the chances I needed on the back nine," Clarke said, before admitting he was pleased with his week's work after getting a few tips from Vijay Singh.

"Vijay told me to do a couple of things that really helped me today.

"He told me to keep my eye on the ball a little longer and to start the downswing with my head more in position as opposed to moving into the ball like I was doing."

Clarke hit a magnificent approach shot to within four feet for an eagle on the second before hitting a seven iron into the fourth hole for a 30–foot putt for birdie.

He added another 30–footer on the sixth for another birdie and added two more on nine and 10.

But then he stumbled on the back nine where his putting let him down as several birdie attempts fell just short.

World number 10 Padraig Harrington closed with a two–under 70 – a disappointing result from his point of view.

The leader in the first two rounds, American Kenny Perry, looked jaded as he came in and simply could not get the momentum back that he had in the first two days, closing with a 75 to end joint fifth with countryman Jerry Kelly.

Australian Adam Scott shot the round of the day with a four–under 68 while defending champion Ernie Els closed better with a 69, but still ended two over but two shots ahead of Nick Price who ended in last place on four over.