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 He
began 1999 as a schoolboy amateur
dubbed “El Niño”, ranked 399th in
the world, and ended the year as a
fully-fledged titan on the
international circuit - in the lofty
peaks of 12th place. If Tiger Woods
was, predictably, the dominating
force of the final season of the
20th century, Sergio García was the
undoubted sensation of the year.
Competing at Augusta as the reigning
British Amateur champion, he was the
only non-professional to make the US
Masters cut (in joint 38th place)
and one month later he made his
professional debut in the Spanish
Open...Book
Sergio Garcia for Your Event
A relatively inauspicious
share of 25th place gave little
indication of the furore to follow,
and the extraordinary fulfilment of
his four objectives in 1999: secure
US and European Tour cards for 2000;
win a European Tour event; and make
the Ryder Cup team. The first
objective was achieved after just
two US starts (joint third and
11th); the second and third when he
won the Murphy’s Irish Open; and
(most incredible of all) the fourth
when he finished second, just one
stroke behind the winner Tiger
Woods, in the US PGA Championship.
He thus became the youngest player
to tee up in a Ryder Cup and
acquitted himself brilliantly before
moving on to Scotland to captain
Spain to its first victory in the
Dunhill Cup - teamed with Miguel
Angel Jimenez and José María
Olazabal. By the end of the year he
was third in the European Tour
rankings, ahead of illustrious
players who had competed in twice as
many tournaments throughout the
season..
The results were less spectacular in
2000, as he combined his time
between the European and US Tours,
but the highlight of his season came
in the “Battle of Bighorn” in
August, when he beat Tiger Woods by
one hole in a made-for-TV match in
California and collected a cheque
for $1.1 million.
After a slow start to 2001, he won
twice on the US Tour within four
starts, to move to fifth in the
world rankings, then joined
Ballesteros, Olazabal and Jimenez as
a winner of the select-field Trophèe
Lancôme.
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