Sergio García Fernández (pronounced [ˈseɾxjo ɣaɾˈθi.a feɾˈnandeθ]; born 9 January 1980) is a Spanish professional golfer. He turned professional in 1999 and played on the European Tour and PGA Tour prior to joining LIV Golf in 2022. García has won 36 international tournaments as a professional, most notably the 2008 Players Championship and the 2017 Masters Tournament. García was also the Chairman of Spanish football team CF Borriol.
García has spent much of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, including over 300 weeks in the top 10 between 2000 and 2009, and over 450 weeks in the top 10 in total. He reached his highest career ranking, second, after winning the HSBC Champions tournament in November 2008. García has achieved career earnings of more than US$43 million. As a player, he is noted for strong iron play and accuracy. In the Ryder Cup, he competed in ten of the eleven matches playing during his professional career cumulatively earning a record 28.5 points during those matches.
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Early life and amateur career
García began playing golf at the age of three and was taught by his father, Victor, who is a club professional. García won his club championship at age 12.
At the age of 16, Garcia set a record as the youngest player to make the cut at a European Tour event, the 1995 Turespaña Open Mediterrania. In 1995, García became the youngest player to win the European Amateur. He followed that with a win in the Boys Amateur Championship in 1997. He won a professional tournament, the 1997 Catalan Open, as an amateur.
Garcia was part of the Spanish teams winning the European Boys' Team Championship in 1996 and 1997. In 1998, he won The Amateur Championship at Muirfield and reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Amateur. He also finished second in the 1998 Argentine Open, being the low amateur, and winning the Pereira Iraola Cup.
Professional career
European Tour
In 1999, García turned professional. He shot the lowest amateur score in the 1999 Masters Tournament. His first title on the European Tour came in his sixth start as a professional, in July 1999 at the Irish Open. He first achieved worldwide prominence with a duel against Tiger Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship, where he eventually finished second, losing by one stroke. Late in the final round, García with his ball up against a tree trunk in the right rough on the 16th hole, and the green hidden from view, he swung hard with his eyes shut and hit a low curving fade that ran up onto the green. As the shot traveled, he sprinted madly into the fairway and then scissor-kick jumped to see the result. Shortly afterwards he became the youngest player ever to compete in the Ryder Cup. In 2002, during a practice round, García made an albatross (double eagle) on the par-5 second hole at the Masters, one of the few players to have ever done so. On the 575-yard (526 m) hole at the Augusta National Golf Club, he holed a 253-yard (231 m) 2-iron following a 325-yard (297 m) drive.
When García first turned professional, he had an unorthodox swing with a circular loop and long large lag, and this method drew comparisons to Ben Hogan, one of the best players of all time. But during the 2003 season, he worked towards making his swing more conventional, but has largely kept his original method. In his early years, he repeatedly gripped, released, and regripped his hands on the club handle before finally taking a shot. This "waggle" habit created a stir, especially at the 2002 U.S. Open when some spectators shouted out, "Hit the ball, Sergio!", and some people audibly counted the number of regrips into the twenties. Since then he has eliminated the habit. Responding to criticism of 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 was a member of every European Ryder Cup team from 1999 to 2021, with the exception of 2010, and has a career record at the Ryder Cup of 25–13–7 (.633). He has been in six winning sides and his singles win in 2018 made him the all-time Ryder Cup points leader, with 251⁄2 points in 9 appearances, overtaking Nick Faldo's 25 points in 11 appearances. By winning three of his four matches at Whistling Straits in 2021, he extended this record to 281⁄2 points, and also surpassed Faldo as the player with the most individual match victories, with 25.
In the 2006 Ryder Cup, at the K Club in Republic of Ireland, García won both his fourball and foursome matches (with José María Olazábal and Luke Donald, respectively) on day one, beating David Toms and Brett Wetterich in the fourballs and Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk in the foursomes. On day two, he paired up with Olazábal again, who won both their matches against Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco in both the foursomes and fourballs. Going into the final day in the singles, García was heavily tipped to be the second person to win all their matches in one Ryder Cup; however, Stewart Cink beat him 4 and 3. Europe won the cup again, with 181⁄2 points to the United States' 91⁄2 points. At the 2020 Ryder Cup, Garcia won the inaugural Nicklaus-Jacklin Award for the European team. It is an award given to the player whose teamwork, sportsmanship, performance and decisions epitomized the spirit of the Ryder Cup.
PGA Tour
At the age of 21, García won his first PGA Tour event at the 2001 MasterCard Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, and then won again at the Buick Classic in New York the same year. He was the youngest Tour winner since Tiger Woods in 1996 at age 20. In 2002, García won the Mercedes Championships in early January, and in 2004, he won the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and the Buick Classic for the second time. His sixth PGA Tour victory came at the 2005 Booz Allen Classic. As of October 2020, he has eleven PGA Tour victories, including the 2017 Masters Tournament. He also plays a limited schedule on the European Tour, where he has 16 tour level victories to his name.
In March 2007, García received criticism for a spitting incident at the WGC-CA Championship. During his third round García spat into the bottom of the cup on the 13th green after three-putting for bogey. After missing the cut in the first two major championships of 2007, García came close to winning The Open Championship – his favourite of the four majors – at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland. He held the lead after each one of the first three rounds and carried a three-shot lead over Steve Stricker and a six-shot lead over the rest of the field into the start of the fourth day.
At an early stage of the last round, García had extended his lead to four shots, but bogeys at the 5th, 7th, and 8th holes brought him back to the field. On the final challenging hole, he needed a par to win, but failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker. The last putt on the 18th hole on Sunday, from about 8 feet (2.4 m), would have given him his first professional major. He missed it by a fraction and faced a four-hole playoff with Pádraig Harrington that he eventually lost by one stroke.
In his post-round news conference, García seemed to suggest that bad breaks had cost him the Open championship. During the playoff, on the long par-3 16th hole, his tee shot hit the flagstick but then bounced 20 feet (6 m) from the pin, off the green, and García could not convert for birdie. "It's not the first time, unfortunately", he stated. "I don't know... I'm playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field." In the 2007 PGA Championship, he was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard after the third round.
On 11 May 2008, García won The Players Championship on the PGA Tour in a sudden-death playoff against Paul Goydos. The playoff began at the par-3 17th, where Goydos hit a pitching wedge that ballooned and fell inches short of the island green and into the water, while García played a sand wedge to within four feet (1.3 m) of the hole. Goydos made double bogey while García made par for the win.
LIV Golf
In May, while competing at the Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour, García had a verbal altercation with a rules official while attempting to find his ball. García became heated after being told it took too long to find his ball, leading to him shouting "A couple more weeks, and I won't have to deal with you anymore". This led to speculation that Garcia would join the Saudi Arabia-led LIV Golf Invitational Series. García resigned from the PGA Tour and was then suspended from its future tournaments after he began to play in the first LIV Golf tournament.
Having joined LIV, García was subject to fines and suspension from the European Tour for playing without a conflicting event release. After those sanctions were upheld by an independent arbitrator, in May 2023, the European Tour announced that he had resigned his membership of the tour.
Personal life
In July 2017, García married Golf Channel reporter Angela Akins, the daughter of Marty Akins. His sister Mar is married to the footballer Pablo Hernández. Until June 2018, he was also the president and chairman of his hometown football club CF Borriol, for whom he occasionally played in the Tercera División. He maintains residences in Austin, Texas, Orlando, Florida, Borriol, and Crans-Montana.
On 14 March 2018, García became a father. He named his daughter Azalea, after the famed flowers of Augusta National Golf Club and the nickname for the par-5 13th hole where García made par to move ahead and help claim his only major championship. They had son Enzo in April 2020.
García is also an avid Real Madrid supporter and was invited to take the honorary kickoff for El Clásico (between Real and archrival FC Barcelona) at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu wearing his green jacket after his Masters victory, in which Barcelona defeated leaders Real Madrid 3–2.
Awards and honors
In 1999, Garcia won the European Tour's Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award.
In 2008, Garcia earned the Byron Nelson Award and Vardon Trophy. They are respectively bestowed by the PGA Tour and PGA of America, given to the player with the lowest scoring average over the course of the season.
In 2017, he was given the European Tour Golfer of the Year award.
Amateur wins
1995 European Young Masters, European Amateur
1997 Boys Amateur Championship, French Open Amateur Championship, Sherry Cup (Sotogrande)
1998 Spanish International Amateur Championship, The Amateur Championship
Professional wins (38)
PGA Tour wins (11)
PGA Tour playoff record (6–6)
European Tour wins (16)
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Sunshine Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia, but unofficial event on those tours.
European Tour playoff record (4–4)
Japan Golf Tour wins (1)
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour
Japan Golf Tour playoff record (0–1)
Asian Tour wins (5)
1Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
2Co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour playoff record (1–0)
LIV Golf League wins (2)
LIV Golf League playoff record (1–3)
Other wins (5)
Other playoff record (2–0)
Major championships
Wins (1)
1Defeated Rose in a sudden-death playoff: García (3), Rose (5).
Results timeline
Results not in chronological order in 2020.
LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" = tied
DQ = disqualified
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Most consecutive cuts made – 10 (2014 U.S. Open – 2016 Open)
Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (2002 Masters – 2002 PGA)
The Players Championship
Results timeline
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Cancelled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Results in World Golf Championships
Results not in chronological order before 2015.
1Cancelled due to 9/11
2Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.
PGA and European Tour career summary
* As of 19 September 2020
These figures are from the respective tour's official sites. Note that there is double counting of money earned and wins in the majors and World Golf Championships.
Team appearances
Amateur
Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 1995, 1997 (winners)
European Boys' Team Championship (representing Spain): 1995, 1996 (winners), 1997 (winners)
European Amateur Team Championship (representing Spain): 1995, 1997 (winners)
Junior Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1995 (winners), 1997
Eisenhower Trophy (representing Spain): 1996, 1998
St Andrews Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 1996
Professional
Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Spain): 1999 (winners)
Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1999, 2002 (winners), 2004 (winners), 2006 (winners), 2008, 2012 (winners), 2014 (winners), 2016, 2018 (winners), 2021
Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 2000 (winners), 2003
World Cup (representing Spain): 2001, 2004, 2005, 2009
Golf equipment
García previously had an endorsement deal with TaylorMade and Adidas, at the time a joint company used all TaylorMade equipment, and Adidas shoes and clothing.
Following the acquisition of TaylorMade by KPS Capital Partners and separation from Adidas and after fifteen years with the company, in January 2018 Sergio García severed his ties with TaylorMade, remained with Adidas and signed with Callaway. At the start of 2020, García confirmed he had parted ways with Callaway after two years to become a free agent.