SUN CITY, South Africa, 1 December 2003 — Sergio Garcia of Spain ended his recent victory drought by winning his second Sun City challenge yesterday after sinking a 15-footer for a birdie at the first extra hole of a sudden-death playoff with South Africa’s Retief Goosen.
Earlier the two players had tied on 274, 14-under-par, for the 72 holes of regulation play with Garcia closing with a 70 and Goosen a 69. The 23-year-old Spaniard, who earned $1.2 million for the victory, thus ends a win-less spell which saw him drop from 25 places in the world rankings from number six to No. 31. On that occasion he picked up two million dollars in prize money as it was a smaller field of 12 — as opposed to 18 this year — with the same total purse. Goosen picked up $500,000 as runner-up.
Vijay Singh of Fiji finished third on 277 after a 69 to earn $400,000.
The day started off in disastrous fashion for Garcia when from the fairway he shanked his second shot at the opening hole, his golf ball careering off sharply to the right.
From the rough short and right of the green he pitched and two-putted for an opening bogey and suddenly it was all even between him and Goosen at 11-under.
However Garcia re-grouped admirably, and although failing to birdie the par-five second where the top players look to pick up a shot, he did birdie No. 3 — a tough par-four — and No. 4 to go back in contention.
Goosen, meanwhile, had started 4-4 as against 5-5 by Garcia. This meant the South African was one ahead. But after Garcia’s two quick birdies, he was again one ahead.
It was like matchplay golf between the South African and the Spaniard, with no-one else in contention. Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke had the best round of the day, a 67 for 278, to finish fourth to pick up $300,000. Defending champion Ernie Els, who came into this tournament chasing his fourth win in three years, closed with a respectable three-under-par 69 in spite of a bogey at the last to finish on 290.
Els finished 17th in the 18-man field, with Zimbabwe’s 46-year-old Nick Price, also a three-time winner here, propping up the field on 292.
