An inch. That was all that stood between Sergio Garcia and a playoff last week at the Wyndham Championship. Sitting in the greenside bunker on the 18th hole, the 29-year-old Spaniard found himself in need of a heroic hole-out to join Ryan Moore and Kevin Stadler in a playoff to decide the '09 champion. The bunker shot looked perfect, coming out, biting perfectly and rolling like it was going to cash for the needed birdie. It was, as the golfing world has tended to say, too perfect of a shot, and the spin kept it from rolling that extra inch. Tap-in par, one shot out of the playoff, another hung-head for Garcia. Most times, Sergio lets these things affect him. Thursday at the Barclays, Garcia came out firing, posting a 6-under 65 to join Paul Goydos and Steve Marino as the leaders after day one.
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Sergio had it to 7-under after back-to-back birdies on his 16th and 17th holes, but a closing bogey kept him from holding the lead outright. A win here would be a milestone for Garcia ... first, he hasn't been a PGA Tour winner since the Players in '08 (where, interestingly enough, Garcia beat fellow leader, Goydos, in a playoff). Second, Sergio hasn't been what you might call a closer -- all seven of his wins have come before July. Winning this week would be his first victory during the FedEx Cup playoffs and show that he can, in fact, win a late season event.
For all the complaining about Liberty National, it sure played friendly on Thursday. Fifty-seven of the 124 players in the field shot par or better, including Phil Mickelson (1-under), Tiger Woods (1-under) and PGA Champion Y.E. Yang (Even).
