Despite hot putter, Garcia falls just short in playoff

text size

PARAMUS, N.J. -- The Barclays had it all.

A tournament that appeared to be anybody's ball game for most of a sunny, warm and humid afternoon in the Garden State fittingly turned into a three-way playoff. Two heart-stopping putts extended the festivities to a second extra hole. There was even a Caddyshack moment.

As luck would have it, Sergio Garcia didn't win The Barclays for the third time in his career. But he approached that playoff with Kevin Sutherland and the eventual champ, Vijay Singh, with the mixture of determination and gracious good humor that marked his youth and endeared the Spaniard to fans worldwide.

Greenwood/Getty Images

Sergio Garcia nearly won his third Barclays title on Sunday, losing in a playoff to Vijay Singh.

RELATED

Swing Vision: Sergio Garcia
Garcia's player profile
Garcia's 2008 results
Garcia's 2008 stats

Garcia had accepted the loss to Padraig Harrington at the PGA Championship two weeks ago with similar maturity. He's clearly focused more on his own abilities now than any percieved slights from the golf gods, and the man who won THE PLAYERS Championship earlier this year has finished runner-up in each of his last two starts.

"What can you do?" Garcia asked rhetorically. "You can't take it the wrong way. I think the most important thing about it is that I keep putting myself in a good position, and unfortunately, somebody just seems to be able to come up with some spectacular playing when I'm out there on top.

"I feel like I played solid all week. I got a couple bad breaks here and there that maybe would have made the difference, and a couple good ones here and there, too. At the end of the day, I had a shot. That's what you ask yourself for, and Vijay came out with the goods, and you've just got to give hats off to him."

When Garcia made a 25-footer for birdie on the first extra hole, he pumped both fists in the air, turned toward the CBS broadcast tower, tapped his chest over his heart and blew a kiss to his European Ryder Cup Captain Nick Faldo. And when Singh answered with his own birdie putt from 24, Garcia grinned, saluted by raising his fist and then high-fived the big Fijian.

"I think he was surprised to make his, and I was surprised to see it go in," Singh later said. "And he was even more surprised to see mine go in. I think we were both happy, as well."

The elation was short-lived. Garcia took responsibility for his bad drive at the second playoff hole, the par-5 17th, that clipped a tree and dropped down beside the red hazard line. He tried to hit what he called a "hooky" 6-iron but the ball stayed straight and he was stymied behind a huge red oak as Singh stood in the fairway waiting to hit his approach.

A burrowing gopher -- "You could see him popping out," Singh said -- allowed Garcia to take a drop that left him a shot to the right of the stately oak. Singh already had reached the green and had a 20-footer for eagle, but Garcia hoped a pinpoint wedge would set him up for a birdie that would heighten the pressure.

Instead, Garcia's wedge bounded toward the green but stopped short of the putting surface. His birdie chip slid to the right of the hole and Singh's successful two-putt gave him the win. Again, Garcia was quick with the smile and the handshake, and Singh reached out and patted the Spaniard's face.

"Vijay is a good friend of mine," Garcia said. "If I couldn't win, I'm happy that he did, I guess."

Garcia closed with a 70 that included a stellar chip from the gnarly rough beside the 17th green in regulation that produced a 5-inch tap-in to get back into the tie with Sutherland at 8 under that Singh would join later. But it was his putter that kept Garcia in the game -- and the man who entered the week ranked 173rd in putting average led the field in that category and tied for second in putts per round.

"Obviously, I'm putting much better," Garcia said. "Whoever doesn't think that is obviously blind. So I feel good about it. I think we've all put a lot of work into it. ... I probably should get the most improved putting stroke for the year. Unfortunately, there's no trophy for that."

There is, however, a silver FedExCup trophy from Tiffany that's up for grabs and Garcia has put himself in prime position to win it. He moved 10 spots up the standings to No. 2 behind Singh with 104,375 points entering this week's Deutsche Bank Championship.

"Obviously, this was a good start," Garcia said. "Not the perfect start, but it was a very good start. I'm looking forward to keep moving in the right direction, keep giving myself chances in the next two weeks and then get ready for the Ryder Cup and see if we can have a good TOUR Championship and at least have a chance to win the FedExCup."