Spaniard Sergio Garcia birdied four of the final five holes on Monday night to record a one hole victory over Tiger Woods at the "Battle at Bighorn," a made-for-TV match-play event.
While Woods fought off the flu, Garcia battled nerves before settling down on the back nine. The 20-year-old Spaniard took the lead for the first time at the 16th hole. After he rolled in a long uphill birdie putt, Woods pulled his 12-foot birdie attempt to the left, giving Garcia a one hole advantage.
"You could see I was a little nervous on the first hole. After that, I started calming down a little," Garcia said.
With lights lending a surreal quality to the Bighorn Golf Club, both players parred the 17th hole. Woods sent a charge through the crowd and nearly forced a playoff when his approach at the par-four 18th ran just past the hole.
Unfazed, Garcia made a six-foot birdie putt to capture the $1 million first prize. At least for one night, he loosened Woods's stranglehold on the golf world that began when Woods out-duelled Garcia at last year's PGA Championship.
"You have to be lucky sometimes," Garcia said. "Those couple of putts that dropped at the right time, I think those are the ones that gave me the tournament."
"He played it beautifully today, drove the ball wonderfully," said Woods. "He was in the fairway on every hole, and that's what you need to do in match play."
Since Woods and Garcia finished 1-2 at Medinah in August 1999, Woods has captured 12 PGA Tour events while Garcia is without a win. Garcia was 32-1 in match play before becoming the youngest player ever at the 1999 Ryder Cup, where he was 3-0-1. In the Anderson Consulting Matchplay Championship earlier this year, Garcia won his first two matches before losing to David Duval, 2 and 1.
Woods reached the final of that event but lost to Darren Clarke. He has not done much losing since.
The match came 24 hours after Woods posted another record-setting victory. Under nearly pitch black conditions, he capped his 15th win in 26 starts with a 167-yard approach shot that set up a three-foot birdie.
Woods outclassed the 37-player elite field with an 11-shot victory, pushing his record 2000 earnings to $7,692,821. Because the "Battle at Bighorn" was not sanctioned by the PGA Tour, Woods's $400,000 runner-up check was not added to that total.
Both Woods and Garcia said they would donate a portion of the prize money totalling $500,000 to charity.
Last year, Woods won the inaugural prime-time event, defeating David Duval 2 and 1 in the `'Showdown at Sherwood." The match received a 6.9 rating, the highest for any 1999 golf telecast other than the final round of the Masters.
