January 25, 2014 – For the second year running the TaylorMade-adidas Golf staff player Sergio Garcia produced a stunning late charge at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, but this time it led to victory as the Spaniard finally got his hands on the trophy.

Garcia defeated Finland’s Mikko Ilonen on the third hole of a sudden-death play-off to make up for missing out 12 months ago, when England’s Chris Wood made an eagle on the 72nd hole to beat Garcia and George Coetzee by a shot.

A flawless closing 65 saw Garcia set the clubhouse target of 16 under par, but the 34 year old crucially missed from eight feet for a birdie on the last and then looked on as Ilonen birdied the 16th and 18th to complete a 66 and force extra holes.

The players returned to the 18th for three times to find the winner of the play-off. The third extra hole proved decisive as Ilonen found the bunker and was unable to rescue a birdie, leaving Garcia a tap-in to secure an 11th European Tour title after his long eagle putt had narrowly missed.

Thorbjørn Olesen had a great chance to join the play-off but missed from 15 feet for an eagle on the 18th, the Dane sharing third place with joint overnight leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello.

“It feels good,” said Sergio Garcia, who will move from 11th to inside the Official World Golf Ranking’s top ten on Monday. “It’s funny because I started the day thinking if I can shoot six or seven under maybe I can have a chance, and it turns out I had a very similar putt that I had last year to get it to 17 under on 18; I hit a good putt and unfortunately it didn’t break. The up and down from the bunker in the play-off was key and I’m very happy to be able to win it.”

Asked about the pressure of contesting his seventh European Tour play-off – having won two and lost four – Sergio Garcia added: “I almost feel less pressure because you feel like you’ve had a great week already and if you win it’s kind of like a little bit of a bonus.“

“It’s been an amazing week already and I was definitely more nervous on my tee shot on the 18th (in regulation) than in the play-off. That’s probably why I hit three better tee shots.”

A great win, playing a SLDR driverlofted up a full degree of loft more than his previous driver to take advantage of the low-spinning performance of the club, the new Tour Preferred MC irons, featuring the SpeedPocket with cast 3-7 and forged 8-PW, and the new Tour Preferred X golf ball.

Sergio ranked nº5 in Driving Distance averaging 299.6 yards and was one of 29 players in the Qatar Masters field who played a SLDR driver. Known as one of the best ball strikers in the game, Sergio also hit 75% of the greens with his news Tour Preferred MC irons. This was the second time in three events Sergio has played and won with them. With his blue adidas Golf outfit, he also showed off the new adizero one golf shoes.

What’s in the golf bag of Sergio?

• Driver: TaylorMade SLDR (9,5º, Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana 100-X)
• Fairway Woods: TaylorMade SLDR 3 & 5 (15,5º & 18,5º, Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana 100-X)
• Irons: TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC (3-PW).
• Wedges: TaylorMade ATV (50º and 58º)
• Putter: TaylorMade Spider Mallet Prototype
• Ball: TaylorMade Tour Preferred X
• Glove: adidas Golf Inertia
• Apparel and accessories: adidas Golf
• Footwear: adidas Golf adizero one
• Golf bag: adidas Golf

Pictures: Courtesy of Getty Images and TaylorMade Golf.

Por REDACCIÓN