GREENSBORO (USA): Sergio Garcia claimed a two-stroke victory on Monday in the rain-delayed Wyndham Championship to earn his first PGA Tour victory since the 2008 Players Championship.
Garcia finished with a 66 to wind up at 18-under 262.
He had three straight late-round birdies after a bogey briefly dropped him into a tie for the lead, and cruised to his eighth career PGA victory.
It was a bit of redemption for the 32-year-old Spaniard, who in his last appearance in Greensboro in 2009 held a share of the lead after three rounds but let it slip away and finished in fourth place.
This time, he finished strong to give a huge boost to his candidacy for a spot on the European Ryder Cup team. The 10 automatic qualifiers will be set following the Johnny Walker Invitational with Jose Maria Olazabal making two captain’s picks.
In addition to the quests by players on both sides for Ryder Cup selections, much of the focus – as it always is at the tour’s annual late-season stop in central North Carolina – was on the chase to make the FedEx Cup playoffs, which begin in a few days at The Barclays.
But everything wound up taking a back seat to the weather, as heavy rains dumped more than 2 inches of water on the Sedgefield course on Sunday.
The final round was halted at roughly 3 pm with 38 players still on the course and seven players within three shots of Garcia. The decision came 2 1/2 hours later to hold off until Monday morning – the first Monday finish since 1983.
Meanwhile, Arjun Atwal had another rough finish with a double bogey and a bogey in the last four holes as he carded a two-over 72 to end at tied 66th place on Sunday, after being in top-10 on the first day. (AP)
