Sergio Garcia continued his love affair with Real Club Valderrama, as well as continuing an incredible 2017 season, by claiming a sixth European Tour win on Spanish soil at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation.
The home hero and tournament host made it a third victory of the year, and his first since claiming a maiden Major Championship title at the Masters, while rounding off a perfect week during which he was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the European Tour as well as of Real Club Valderrama.
It was no walk in the park for Garcia, who had to battle with Dutchman Joost Luiten all the way to the end before a par four at the final hole finished off a four under closing round of 67 for a 12 under total and a one-stroke triumph.
The win means Garcia closed the gap on Tommy Fleetwood at the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, with the battle to be crowned 2017 European Tour Number One all to play for heading into the final four events of the season.
Luiten carded six birdies and bogey for a five under 66 but came up just short as a crucial birdie putt at the last just lipped out, leaving him on 11 under for a runner-up finish that moved him to 31st in the Race to Dubai.
England’s Daniel Brooks was four shots further back on seven under, after a level par 71, finishing two shots clear of Welshman Jamie Donaldson and three ahead of Australia’s Wade Ormsby as all three men moved inside the top 101 in the Rankings to secure their playing privileges for next season.
Player quotes
Sergio Garcia
“It’s been an amazing year, and to win here at Valderrama is very special. I’m really excited about it, it’s difficult to describe how it feels to win at home and to win on your favourite golf course.
“It was amazing – all three of us played amazing. Daniel played great with everything that he had on the line. Joost played unbelievable. I played really well and felt like maybe I could get away, but he just kept coming back and back and made it an amazing match.
“I stayed patient the whole time, I made sure the bad moments did not affect me too much and made a couple of really key putts coming in.
“The people were unbelievable, amazing, so many people came out and supported, it was really a treat. I want to dedicate this one to my wife Angela and our little baby coming next year in March.”
Joost Luiten
“It was a great battle, to go up against one of the best players in Europe and go head-to-head down the stretch was really fun and unfortunately I came up one short. I missed a short one on 16 and that’s probably the one which really left me one shot short.
“I’ve hit my irons pretty good all week, I hit one really close on five with an eight iron to four feet and then on six a seven iron to ten feet. I had a nice one on nine too, but you know when you come up against these guys you’ve got to go for the pins and be aggressive. I tried and it paid off in the beginning, unfortunately one mistake on the greens cost me but that’s golf.
“The atmosphere was great, especially when you’re coming up 17 and they’re all sitting behind the green on the bank. It’s one of the best holes in golf I guess. It’s great – I wish they had been a little more quiet on the 18th with me winning – but that’s golf and Sergio deserved it.
“The putt on 18 was right to left and I had the right line but unfortunately it had a bit too much speed and it lipped out. That’s one of those putts if you’re a bit more lucky it goes in, but they can stay out. I gave it a run and Sergio just outplayed me.”
Daniel Brooks
“It was good – Sunday at Valderrama playing with Sergio in his home event and him winning, it’s pretty good. I had a good day out there, at the end of the day I kept my card which was nice and that was the goal at the beginning of the week.
“I didn’t think about it at the start of the week at all. I just went out there to play but, as the days went on I started thinking about it. I’m in here now and I needed to finish it off and luckily I did.”
Jamie Donaldson
“I played nicely, wasn’t quite the ball-striking of yesterday but still pretty good. I had lots of chances, holed some good putts out there and some great up-and-downs coming down the last few holes.
“You know what you’ve got to do, you’ve got to finish a certain position to guarantee things so you’ve always got that in the back of your mind but you’ve just got to play the golf course as you planned to play it.
“I had a bit of a cushion knowing that I didn’t completely need to keep my card because I do have a year left of my Career Money List exemption but, even so, you don’t want to use it.”
Scores:
272 S Garcia (Esp) 66 71 68 67,
273 J Luiten (Ned) 66 70 71 66,
277 D Brooks (Eng) 70 72 64 71,
279 J Donaldson (Wal) 73 67 68 71,
280 W Ormsby (Aus) 73 70 67 70,
281 A Hansen (Den) 70 70 71 70, S Jamieson (Sco) 69 68 71 73,
282 N Bertasio (Ita) 74 71 69 68, R Rock (Eng) 67 70 74 71, J Suri (USA) 73 73 65 71, A Rai (Eng) 70 74 71 67,
283 P Larrazábal (Esp) 67 73 73 70, A Otaegui (Esp) 71 71 72 69, P Hanson (Swe) 69 75 68 71, S Lowry (Irl) 72 70 69 72, O Fisher (Eng) 72 73 70 68, A Chesters (Eng) 72 74 69 68,
284 S Kjeldsen (Den) 72 71 70 71, C Hanson (Eng) 72 74 68 70, D Willett (Eng) 70 72 71 71, M Wallace (Eng) 71 72 69 72, A Sullivan (Eng) 71 72 74 67,
285 R Gouveia (Por) 69 70 72 74, A Johnston (Eng) 69 71 73 72, S Soderberg (Swe) 73 69 72 71, R Paratore (Ita) 77 68 72 68,
286 M Kaymer (Ger) 70 72 74 70, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 75 72 69, P Harrington (Irl) 72 73 69 72,
287 R Dinwiddie (Eng) 71 71 71 74, R Bland (Eng) 70 71 73 73, P Waring (Eng) 71 72 71 73, M Manassero (Ita) 70 74 68 75, J Lima (Por) 72 72 70 73, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 70 73 73,
288 T Detry (Bel) 72 72 71 73, J Fahrbring (Swe) 73 71 70 74, L Jensen (Den) 70 74 73 71, C Pigem (Esp) 73 73 74 68, J Morrison (Eng) 69 74 73 72, F Fritsch (Ger) 71 75 70 72, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 70 75 71, B Evans (Eng) 69 69 77 73, Z Lombard (RSA) 75 71 72 70, J Campillo (Esp) 73 73 72 70,
289 P Peterson (USA) 68 72 75 74, A Plant (Eng) 70 72 74 73,
290 R Finch (Eng) 69 73 72 76, A Wu (Chn) 72 71 74 73, L Slattery (Eng) 72 71 71 76, B Ritthammer (Ger) 75 68 70 77, B Dredge (Wal) 73 73 71 73,
291 M Foster (Eng) 73 72 77 69,
292 A Connelly (Can) 73 69 76 74, J Walters (RSA) 71 74 71 76, P Angles (Esp) 75 69 74 74, A Romero (Arg) 71 75 75 71,
293 S Crocker (USA) 73 73 75 72, A Karlsson (Swe) 73 72 75 73, E Molinari (Ita) 69 71 81 72,
294 F Aguilar (Chi) 70 76 76 72,
295 D Perrier (Fra) 74 72 71 78,
299 O Wilson (Eng) 69 70 81 79,
300 C Syme (Sco) 75 70 76 79,
302 A Knappe (Ger) 74 72 79 77,
