Garcia triumphs in May

Sergio Garcia has been named The European Tour Golfer of the Month for May after becoming only the second European golfer to win The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Garcia’s play-off victory over Paul Goydos was the Spaniard’s 17th victory worldwide and came 21 years after Sandy Lyle’s success in 1987. Garcia triumphed in a thrilling climax, holding his nerve to hole a seven foot par putt to tie Goydos on five under par 283 in regulation play. Then, after Goydos’s wedge shot fell short in the water on the notorious par three 17th, Garcia successfully found the putting surface to secure victory at the first extra hole.It was the biggest title of Garcia’s career to date and lifted him back into the top ten in the Official World Golf Ranking in addition to boosting his prospects of a fifth successive Ryder Cup appearance for Europe against the United States. Garcia secured the majority vote from the panel, comprising members of the Association of Golf Writers’ along with journalists from Radio and Television, ahead of several contenders, led by England’s Richard Finch, who made a splash on his 100th European Tour appearance by winning The Irish Open at Adare Manor to become the second multiple winner of the season. Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiménez also caught the eye of the judging panel after winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club and completing the set of three BMW titles having previously won the BMW Asian Open and the BMW International Open in 2004. He was also the first player to win the title with a hole-in-one in his final round. Other contenders who received a special mention in an enthralling month included three first time winners in Ireland’s Peter Lawrie (Open de España), South Africa’s Hennie Otto (Methorios Capital Italian Open) and Australia’s Scott Strange (The Celtic Manor Wales Open), along with Swede Robert Karlsson, who finished in the top three in all four events he played during May, and England’s Oliver Wilson, twice a runner-up in the month. Iain Carter, Golf Correspondent of Radio Five Live, said: “It was a quite extraordinary month concluded by a phenomenal performance from Scott Strange in winning his maiden European Tour title on the 2010 Ryder Cup course where, by finishing runner-up, Robert Karlsson took his winnings in four successive European Tour events in May to €729,634 and his scoring to 57 under par for 16 rounds. Both Richard Finch and Miguel Angel Jiménez’s wins were rightly applauded by the panel although after a close vote Sergio Garcia earned the award for a superb performance at Sawgrass where many observers agreed he produced the best exhibition of driving see this season.” The other Golfer of the Month Award winners of 2008 are Germany’s Martin Kaymer (January), Mark Brown of New Zealand (February), Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland (March) and Trevor Immelman of South Africa (April). At the end of the year, all monthly winners will be amongst the players considered by the panel for The European Tour Golfer of the Year.