It took 679 days.
It took that long for Sergio Garcia to find his way back into a winner’s circle and he had to go to Vietnam to do it.
Garcia prevailed in a four-man playoff Sunday at something called the Ho Tram Open on the Asian Tour.
When you’ve gone through a dry spell like Garcia has, it doesn’t matter where you win, it just matters that you finally got the job done.
“Winning is never easy,” Garcia reminded us. “And you have to be lucky to win.”
Garcia has been down on himself for a long time and is the poster-boy for the self-perception of “snake bitten” when it comes to golf.
This time around he was able to beat India’s Himmat Rai, Thaworn Wirachant of Thailand and Lin Loen-tang of Taiwan.
Not household names, mind you. but it was refreshing to see Garcia get off the schneid.
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PGA Tour rookie Harold Varner III had a close call down-under. He was competing in the Australian PGA and made it into a three-man playoff, only to see Nathan Holman win the title and gain his exemption into the 2016 Open Championship. Dylan Fritelli of South Africa was the third man in the playoff.
The three tied at even par 288 and Varner’s 75 in the final round kept him from victory but he continues to knock on the door. Impressive showing so far from home.
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Cheyenne Woods, niece of Tiger, lost her LPGA card after finishing 125th on their money list for 2015 but she regained her playing privileges with a 13th place finish at the LPGA Q-School this past weekend. He finished with a final round 69 after going into the final 18 holes in danger of not making it.