On the first hole of a three-man playoff, Sergio Garcia got all the help he needed.
Garcia won the Byron Nelson Championship with a simple par on Sunday. Robert Damron botched a 4-foot putt on the first playoff hole and Dudley Hart made a double bogey. It was a strange ending, but a sweet moment for Garcia, who won his first PGA Tour title since January 2002.
After months of revamping his swing, Garcia, one of golf's most talented and charismatic figures, said he believed he was ready to retake his place among the world's top players. This triumph just might be the catalyst.
Garcia, Damron and Hart finished at 10-under-par 270.
Afterward, Garcia said he was confident that his new swing, aimed at making him more consistent, would hold up under pressure.
"I actually felt good all day," Garcia, who won US$1.044 million, said. "I felt like I was in pretty good control."
It was fitting that Garcia snapped his two-year victory drought at the TPC of Las Colinas. His first Tour event as a professional was at the Byron Nelson in 1999, and receiving personal congratulations from Nelson, the tournament's 92-year-old host, made the victory more special, he said.
"Byron has been such a great supporter for the game of golf," Garcia said. "He's been very good to me. He's always said nice things about me. It means a lot to win his tournament."
The outcome was deflating for Damron and Hart. Damron, who shot a 66, seemed to rush his 4-footer in the playoff, and he admitted to making a bad stroke.
"I kind of hit a weak putt," said Damron, who won the Byron Nelson in 2001, his only victory on the Tour. "It's one I should have made for sure. I knew where it was going. I've had that putt before. I just didn't trust it. I just butchered it."
Hart got in trouble during the playoff at the par-4, 442-yard No. 18 by missing both the fairway and the green. That left him with a difficult pitch shot from deep rough beside the green, and he flubbed it. The grass caught his club, and the ball barely plopped onto the green, 40 feet from the cup. Hart 3-putted from there, and settled for a second-place tie.
"I'm proud of the way I played," said Hart, a two-time Tour winner who birdied three of his final five holes in regulation and shot a 67. "I stayed aggressive."
For the second consecutive week, Tiger Woods failed to win after holding the 36-hole lead, tying for fourth (9 under) with Tim Herron and Duffy Waldorf.
Woods can blame his wildness off the tee. He hit only three of 14 fairways, and his last drive might have cost him the tournament.
After making a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 17, Woods needed another birdie at No. 18 to make the playoff. But he hit a poor drive that landed well left of the fairway.
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