At Players, Sergio Garcia finds island paradise

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sunday at Sawgrass felt tougher on Sergio Garcia than what he faced last summer at the British Open, a playoff loss that seemed to define a career filled with more talent than trophies.

He was tormented by a suspect putter. He heard questions whether he could win a big one.

All that changed in the final hour of The Players Championship thanks to two clutch putts, a wedge that found safety on an island and a playoff victory that Garcia desperately needed.

The best player without a major got the next best thing, making a 7-foot par putt that put the Spaniard in a playoff, then beating Paul Goydos on the island-green 17th with a wedge into 4 feet and a putt he could afford to miss after Goydos hit into the water.

"It feels like a major, and it tests you like a major," Garcia said. "I'm so thrilled to be here standing with the trophy."

The first playoff in 21 years at The Players didn't last long. Goydos, hitting first, watched helplessly as a gust caused his wedge to balloon into the cloudy skies and land with a splash a few feet in front of the green.

Garcia, with no margin for error, followed with a wedge that landed on the green, caught a slope and stopped 4 feet away.

"I played good golf," Goydos said. "That doesn't mean you win. There's no defense. I can't tackle the little guy. There's no kneecapping. You have to accept the guy beat me.

"They key is to have the lead with no holes to go."

Garcia and Goydos each finished at 5-under 283.

Fred Couples of Seattle finished tied for 15th at 3-over 291 and earned $147,250. Puyallup's Ryan Moore finished tied for 27th at 5-over 293; he earned $67,450.

Sorenstam wins

by seven strokes

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Annika Sorenstam is on her way back, and a performance that hearkened memories of her game before an injury-filled 2007 season suggests she's close.

"That's the way I used to play," Sorenstam said after hitting every fairway and almost every green in a 5-under-par 66 that made her the runaway winner of the Michelob Ultra Open with a tournament-record 19-under 265. She beat four others by a record-tying seven strokes.

Sorenstam had five birdies on the back nine, including three in a row, before a bogey on the final hole.

The victory was the Swede's third in eight events this season.

Jimin Kang, a graduate of King's High School in Shoreline, finished tied for 26th with a 4-under 280 and earned $19,612. Ex-Washington Huskies player Louise Friberg tied for 44th at even-par 284 to earn $8,920.

European Tour

MILAN, Italy — Hennie Otto won his first European Tour title by shooting a 3-under 69 to hold off Oliver Wilson by one stroke at the Italian Open at Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club. The South African finished at 25-under 263. Wilson, an Englishman had the day's best round at 8-under 64.

Nationwide Tour

FORT SMITH, Ark. — Colt Knost won the Fort Smith Classic at Hardscrabble Country Club, shooting a 5-under 65 to edge Darron Stiles by a stroke. Knost finished at 12-under 268.