Golf:Sergio Garcia ended nearly three years without a victory in astonishing fashion today, winning his home Castellon Masters by 11 shots with a 27-under-par total. The 31-year-old Spanish star had a closing 63 to beat the previous biggest winning margin of the European Tour season by three.
There have been only two bigger in the history of the circuit — Tiger Woods won the 2000 US Open by 15 and Ernie Els the 2005 Asian Open by 13 — while the only player to finish more under par was Els, 29 under at the 2003 Johnnie Walker Classic.
On a day of spectacular scoring compatriot Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano was second after a 64 — he bogeyed the final two holes for that — and joint third were Swede Alex Noren (also 64) and Scot Richie Ramsay (65) on 15 under.
Leading by eight shots overnight, Garcia looked set for an easy victory, but Fernandez-Castano made sure he could not waver.
After a quiet start, Garcia replied to Fernandez-Castano's eagle and five birdies in seven holes with four birdies in six. That kept his rival at a seven-shot arm's length by the time he turned for home.
Garcia's foot then stayed firmly on the pedal and four birdies in six holes, after the turn, left no doubt about the destination of the €330,000 first prize. “That was for Seve,” said Garcia after sending a kiss to the skies. Seve Ballesteros, of course, died of brain cancer in May.
Collated scores
(Gbr & Irl unless stated,
Irishin bold, par 71)
257Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 63 64 63
268Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 69 66 69 64
269Richie Ramsay 72 64 68 65, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 63 73 64
270Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 68 69 70 63
272George Coetzee (Rsa) 67 70 69 66
273Marcel Siem (Ger) 68 68 70 67
274Romain Wattel (Fra) 70 69 66 69, Ross McGowan 64 70 69 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 64 71 69
275Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 68 70 66, Richard McEvoy 66 69 71 69, David Horsey 72 65 70 68, Scott Strange (Aus) 69 68 71 67, Anthony Wall 67 68 69 71, Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 71 67 67, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 66 70 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 69 72 66, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 70 68 68
276Hennie Otto (Rsa) 72 69 67 68, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 71 69 65, Matt Haines 70 66 70 70, Stephen Dodd 74 66 69 67, Danny Willett 67 74 67 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 67 69 66 74, Michael Hoey67 74 69 66
277Steve Webster 74 66 66 71, Gary Orr 67 67 74 69, Gary Boyd 70 68 72 67, Matthew Zions (Aus) 70 71 67 69, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 68 69 70, Peter Lawrie73 69 66 69
278Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 70 68 69, Robert Dinwiddie 72 68 69 69
279Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 70 66 72 71, Stephen Gallacher 71 69 72 67, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 69 68 71 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 66 71 74 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 69 70 69, Thomas Levet (Fra) 71 68 70 70
280Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 67 68 71, Damien McGrane69 70 70 71, Graeme Storm 73 68 70 69, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 74 67 73 66, David Drysdale 70 67 70 73, Richard Green (Aus) 70 68 73 69, Mark Foster 68 69 74 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 67 72 70
281Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71 68 73 69, Robert Coles 68 73 67 73, Soren Hansen (Den) 75 66 72 68
282James Kingston (Rsa) 69 71 71 71, Steven O'Hara 68 74 73 67
283Phillip Price 73 69 72 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 70 72 73 68, Scott Jamieson 70 70 71 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 74 68 70 71
284Keith Horne (Rsa) 71 70 71 72
285Martin Wiegele (Aut) 72 70 73 70, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 74 68 73 70
287Anthony Kang (USA) 70 70 74 73, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 69 73 73
288John Parry 71 70 72 75, Mark Brown (Nzl) 69 72 74 73
289Carl Suneson (Spa) 70 71 76 72
