Sergio Garcia

Sergio García Fernández, born 9 January 1980, is a Spanish professional golfer who began his career in 1999. He competed on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour before switching to LIV Golf in 2022. Over his professional career, he has won 36 international tournaments, with his biggest victories being the 2008 Players Championship and the 2017 Masters Tournament. He also served as Chairman of the Spanish football club CF Borriol.

For much of his career, García ranked among the world’s top ten golfers. He spent more than 300 weeks in the top ten between 2000 and 2009, and over 450 weeks in total. His highest ranking, second in the world, came after winning the HSBC Champions tournament in November 2008. His career earnings exceed US$43 million. Known for his precise iron play and accuracy, García also built a legendary Ryder Cup record. He played in ten of the eleven matches during his professional career, earning a record 28.5 points.

García started playing golf at age three, taught by his father Victor, a club professional. He won his club championship at age twelve. At sixteen, he became the youngest player to make the cut at a European Tour event, the 1995 Turespaña Open Mediterrania. That same year, he became the youngest winner of the European Amateur. He won the Boys Amateur Championship in 1997 and, as an amateur, won the professional Catalan Open that year. He helped Spain win the European Boys’ Team Championship in 1996 and 1997. In 1998, he won The Amateur Championship at Muirfield and reached the U.S. Amateur semi-finals. He also finished second at the 1998 Argentine Open as low amateur, winning the Pereira Iraola Cup.

Turning professional in 1999, García recorded the lowest amateur score at that year’s Masters. His first European Tour win came in his sixth start as a pro, at the July 1999 Irish Open. He gained worldwide attention by dueling Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship, finishing second by one stroke. During that final round, with his ball against a tree trunk on the 16th hole, he closed his eyes, swung hard, and hit a low curving fade onto the green, then sprinted and scissor-kicked to see the result. Shortly after, he became the youngest player ever to compete in the Ryder Cup. In a 2002 Masters practice round, he made an albatross on the par-5 second hole, holing a 253-yard 2-iron after a 325-yard drive.

Early in his pro career, García had an unorthodox swing with a circular loop and long lag, drawing comparisons to Ben Hogan. In 2003, he worked to make it more conventional but largely kept his original method. He also had a habit of repeatedly gripping, releasing, and regripping the club before shots, which drew crowd shouts at the 2002 U.S. Open, where some spectators counted his regrips into the twenties. He later eliminated the habit. Defending his swing, he said, “My swing works for me, so why should I change it? I prefer to have a natural swing and play well rather than a perfect swing and not be able to play good.”

García played on every European Ryder Cup team from 1999 to 2021 except 2010, with a career record of 25–13–7. He was part of six winning sides. His singles win in 2018 made him the all-time points leader with 25 points in nine appearances, surpassing Nick Faldo’s 25 points in eleven. At Whistling Straits in 2021, he won three of four matches, extending his record to 28 points and surpassing Faldo for most individual match victories with 25. At the 2006 Ryder Cup in Ireland, he won both his fourball and foursome matches on day one, then paired with José María Olazábal to win again on day two. In singles, Stewart Cink beat him, but Europe won the cup. At the 2020 Ryder Cup, he received the inaugural Nicklaus-Jacklin Award for the European team, given for teamwork, sportsmanship, performance, and decisions that epitomized the Ryder Cup spirit.

At age 21, García won his first PGA Tour event at the 2001 MasterCard Colonial, then the Buick Classic that same year, becoming the youngest Tour winner since Tiger Woods. He won the Mercedes Championships in 2002, the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and a second Buick Classic in 2004, and the Booz Allen Classic in 2005. As of October 2020, he had eleven PGA Tour victories, including the 2017 Masters. He also played a limited European Tour schedule, with sixteen tour-level wins there.