05/11/2008 - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sergio Garcia parred the first playoff hole, the famous island green at 17, to defeat Paul Goydos Sunday and win The Players Championship.
The win was Garcia's seventh on the PGA Tour, but first since the 2005 Booz Allen Classic. The victory was his biggest to date since this is called by some, "the fifth major."
Garcia has enjoyed close calls in majors, but never broke through. There was the famous debut to the world at the 1999 PGA Championship and the final-round pairing with Tiger Woods at the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage.
Last year was perhaps the most painful. He had a chance to win the British Open Championship, but missed a six-footer for par on the 72nd hole, then fell to Padraig Harrington in a playoff.
Sunday gave Garcia his biggest win.
"It's been a lot of work," acknowledged Garcia. "I feel like I've been playing well, unfortunately I hadn't been able to come around and win. Everything was so hard. I'm thrilled the week is over and I managed to come out on top."
Garcia posted a sensational, one-under 71 on Sunday at the Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass. Under windy conditions, Goydos only managed a two-over 74 and the pair tied in regulation at five-under 283.
They headed to the 17th tee to begin the extra session.
Goydos went first and hit a wedge short into the water. Garcia stepped up and hit his wedge tee ball left of the hole. With the contour of the green and the wind gusts, Garcia's ball rolled down to just inside five feet.
"It ballooned a little bit more than the other one," said Goydos, referring to his shot in regulation. "I saw it kind of hurting and thought uh-oh. You can hit nine-iron over the green, or you can hit wedge short. That's the way it is sometimes."
Goydos played his third from the drop area and hit a great shot to 14 feet. He missed the bogey putt, allowing Garcia to three-putt from four feet, five inches for the win.
Garcia did miss his birdie putt, but was doing no more than cozying it down to the hole. He tapped in for the victory.
"I manage to hit it at the right time," said Garcia, who pocketed $1.7 million for the win. "It was a really tough day. He caught a little gust of wind in the playoff."
For Goydos, this would have been the third PGA Tour victory and by far his biggest. He came up short, but was practical
"Sergio played better than everybody else," acknowledged Goydos. "Look at the stats. That's good that that's rewarded."
Jeff Quinney shot a two-under 70 and would have been in the playoff if not for a bogey at the 18th. He took third at minus-four, three shots better than Briny Baird, who shot an even-par 72 on Sunday.
Stephen Ames, the 2006 winner, also shot an even-par 72 and came in fifth at even-par 288.
Goydos began the final round with a one-shot lead and occupied the top spot on the leaderboard through much of Sunday.
Goydos struggled a bit on the front nine with three bogeys, but a 50-foot birdie putt at the fourth helped offset the big scores. Goydos pitched in for birdie from short of the 10th green, then two holes later, he knocked his approach from the right rough to three feet to set up birdie.
Garcia, who netted two bogeys and a birdie through the opening nine, holed a seven-footer for birdie at 11 and a 17-footer for birdie at 12. He hit his tee ball over the green at 13 and made bogey, which dropped him three behind Goydos.
The young Spaniard holed a miraculous 50-footer for birdie at 14 to get within two of Goydos' lead, but trouble loomed for Goydos. He three-putted for a bogey from 40 feet at the 14th, then fell into a tie for the lead thanks to a missed nine-footer for par at the 15th.
Goydos hit a good five-iron to the left fringe with his second at the par-five 16th. He hit his third in close and tapped in for the birdie and a one-shot advantage.
Quinney fell off the pace when he caught a flier lie in the rough at 18. He could not save par from the back bunker.
Garcia was in the rough too, but laid up short with his second. He pitched to six feet and calmly holed the par putt, not looking like the man ranked 131st in putting on the PGA Tour.
Garcia would now have a chance if Goydos stumbled on his way into the clubhouse, which happened thanks to an errant drive at 18.
"I felt like he could get up and down on 18," said Garcia, who became the first European to win this title since Sandy Lyle in 1987. "Fortunately for me, he didn't."
Goydos laid up with his second and admittedly "chunked" his third. He had 18 feet for the win, but the ball never threatened the hole. It was off to the playoff and Garcia's victory.
"It's a lot of hard work starting to pay off," said Garcia. "That's the most important thing."
Brett Quigley (71), Ernie Els (72), Ben Crane (72) and Tom Lehman (74) shared sixth place at plus-one.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson was in the hunt after the third round, but played poorly on Sunday. He shot a six-over 78 and finished in a group tied for 21st at four-over 292.
<< Greene homers, Young sharp as Padres down Rockies
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Khalil Greene belted a two-run homer run,
and Tadahito Iguchi went 3-for-5 with a run scored and one batted in, as the
San Diego Padres defeated the Colorado Rockies, 6-1, in the finale of a three-
game se
<< Brown keys Oakland's win over Rangers
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Emil Brown finished with four runs batted
in, including a three-run homer, as the Oakland Athletics avoided a weekend
sweep and clobbered the Texas Rangers, 12-6.
Daric Barton hit a two-run homer an
<< Astros bring out brooms against Dodgers
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hunter Pence went 3-for-4, drove in two
runs and scored twice as the Houston Astros fought off Hiroki Kuroda's no-hit
bid and rallied for six runs in the eighth inning and an 8-5 win over the Los
Angeles
<< Flyers D Coburn leaves after getting hit with puck
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Braydon
Coburn left in the first period of his team's playoff game against Pittsburgh
after the puck hit him in the face.
Just 1:51 into the second game of the Easte
Ibanez homers as Mariners snap skid >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raul Ibanez launched a monstrous go-ahead
two-run homer and the Seattle Mariners snapped a five-game losing streak with
a 6-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Ichiro Suzuki was 3-for-4 and scored twic
Sunday's NBA Playoff Boxes >>
L.A. LAKERS (115)Radmanovic 1-6 0-0 2, Odom 10-18 5-10 26, Gasol 11-16 1-2 23, Fisher 5-8 1-1 15, Bryant 13-33 6-10 33, Farmar 0-2 0-0 0, Walton 2-6 1-2 5, Turiaf 0-2 0-0 0, Vujacic 4-6 0-0 11, Mbenga 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 46-97 14-25 115.UTAH (123)Kiri
NBA Playoff Capsules >>
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -Andrei Kirilenko blocked Kobe Bryant twice in overtime and converted a three-point play with 35 seconds remaining as the Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers 123-115 on Sunday, tying the Western Conference semifinals at 2-2.The
Phantom goal helps Finland edge USA at Worlds >>
Halifax, Nova Scotia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Finland scored three times in the
third period, including what turned out to be a phantom goal, to upend the
United States with a contentious 3-2 victory at the 2008 World Hockey
Champio
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.