2004 PGA TOUR Media Guide

SERGIO GARCIAEXEMPT STATUS: 2001 two-time tournament winner (through 2004)FULL NAME: Sergio Garcia Fernandez HEIGHT: 5-10 WEIGHT: 160BIRTHDATE: January 9, 1980BIRTHPLACE: Castellon, SpainRESIDENCE: Borriol, SpainFAMILY: SingleSPECIAL INTERESTS: Real Madrid FC (soccer team), kids, tennisTURNED PROFESSIONAL: 1999 JOINED TOUR: 1999PGA TOUR VICTORIES (3): 2001 MasterCard Colonial, Buick Classic. 2002 MercedesChampionships.INTERNATIONAL VICTORIES (6): 1999 Murphy’s Irish Open [Eur], Linde GermanMasters [Eur]. 2001 Trophee Lancome [Eur], Nedbank Golf Challenge. 2002 Canarias Opende Espana [Eur]. 2003 Nedbank Golf ChallengeBEST 2003 PGA TOUR FINISHES: T4—Buick Classic; T10—British OpenChampionship.2003 SEASON: Worked hard to adjust to a swing change, essentially reducing thesignature lag at the top of his swing to become more consistent. Managed only two top-10 finishes in 20 starts…First top-10 of season came in June, his 13th event of theseason. Posted a T4 at the Buick Classic, his third straight top-10 at the tournament. Apast champion of the event, was one back of the four leaders heading into the finalround…After finishing in the top-10 in all four majors in 2002, finished T10 at the BritishOpen for second top-10 of season…Shared the first-round lead with Ben Curtis at theWGC-NEC Invitational at 6-under-par 64. Finished T30 after struggling to a 6-over-par 76in the second round…Held first-round lead by a stroke at WGC-American ExpressChampionship before finishing T12.CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2002: Enjoyed another standout season with a victory at theseason-opening Mercedes Championship, and top-10 finishes in all four majors, the onlyplayer to do so…Posted a 3-2-0 record in Europe’s winning Ryder Cup effort. Career recordat Ryder Cup is 6-3-1. Also captured the Canarias Open de Espana on the European Tour,the fourth career European Tour victory for the Spanish native and his first professional winin Spain…Birdied the 18th hole on The Plantation Course at the Mercedes Championshipsto set up playoff with David Toms, then birdied same hole again to earn third PGA TOURtitle. Overcame a four-shot deficit with a final round 9-under-par 64, for the best final-roundfinish at The Plantation Course. The last first-time champion to win the event was TigerWoods in 1997. Victory was worth $720,000, matching career-high TOUR paycheck of 2001MasterCard Colonial. 2001: Stepped up his play another notch with two victories to crackthe top 10 in earnings at sixth…Became first player born in 1980s to win on TOUR with atwo-stroke victory in the MasterCard Colonial. Starting the final round five off the lead andclosed with a 63, which tied Davis Love III at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am andBob Estes at the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas for season’s low finish by winner…Threestarts after first win, became one of nine multiple winners on TOUR with a victory in BuickClassic. Tied for lead after 36 holes and led by two after 54. Closed with 67 to win by three.Become youngest player to win $2 million in a season…Lost a four-man playoff to at THETOUR Championship. Closed with 68 to tie Ernie Els, David Toms and Mike Weir at 14-under 270. Weir proceeded to birdie the first extra hole to win the event…Was a Captain’sChoice for European Ryder Cup team…Earned third European title at Trophee Lancome,edging Retief Goosen by one stroke. 2000: A successful sophomore season on TOUR whichproduced five top-10s and eight top-25 finishes…Played in 16 events during the year,making 14 cuts. 1999: Made a tremendous impact on the game in the nine events playedon the PGA TOUR…Made the cut in seven tournaments, finished among top-10 four timeswith a runner-up and third-place finish…Nominated for Rookie of the Year honors(qualified by finishing top-125 on money list)…In first PGA TOUR start as a professionaland second start as a professional, finished T3 at GTE Byron Nelson Classic. Opening 62left him one stroke behind Tiger Woods’ 18-hole lead. Remained one back through 36 holesafter 67 and followed with 71-69 to finish seven strokes out of Loren Roberts-Steve Pateplayoff…Following Memorial payday of $58,650, had $202,650 in TOUR earnings andjoined TOUR as special temporary member…Runner-up finish at PGA Championshipassured berth on European Ryder Cup Team. Opening-round 66 gave him first-round lead atMedinah CC. Was youngest player to lead PGA Championship since tournament went tostroke play in 1958. Shot 73 in second round and stood two back. Third-round 68 producedT3 position, two strokes out of lead. On Sunday, trailed Woods by two strokes with threeholes to play, and tee shot on 16 came to rest against a root behind large tree, then hit a6-iron, with eyes closed, safely on green and ran down fairway to watch recovery shot.Finished one stroke behind Woods for solo second…Youngest Ryder Cup participant everat age 19 years, 8 months, 15 days (more than five months younger than Nick Faldo in1977), where he posted a 3-1-1 overall record…Won first professional event on July 4,1999 at Murphy’s Irish Open in his sixth professional start. Became European Tour’s fourthyoungestwinner (youngest was South African Dale Hayes, 18, when he won 1971 SpanishOpen)…Earned second European Tour victory at Linde German Masters on Oct. 3. Sank 15-foot birdie putt on second playoff hole to defeat Padraig Harrington…Joined Jose MariaOlazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez to capture Spain’s first Dunhill Cup title. Amateur:Turned pro on April 21, 1999 after playing in 28 professional events as an amateur…Wasfirst British Amateur Champion to finish as low amateur in Masters Tournament(1999)…Winner of 19 events as an amateur and also a professional event, the CatalonianOpen, at age 17…Made the cut in 12 of 18 European Tour events entered before turningprofessional…At age 14, made his first cut in a European Tour event, the 1995 TurespanaOpen Mediterranea. Set a European Tour record as youngest player to make a cut…Wonthe 1995 European Amateur Championship, the youngest winner of the event…Match-playrecord, both amateur and professional, is 35-2-2.PERSONAL: Nicknamed ‘El Nino’…Father, Victor, is his teacher and the teachingprofessional at home club, the Club de Golf de Mediterraneo. Father played in threeChampions Tour events in 2002 and one in 2003. Started playing golf at age 3 and becameclub champion at age 12…Said this about the swing change he undertook in 2003, “Iknew what I was doing and I just thought take it slow, because it might take some time.But you’ve got to realize those things, and just wait, and that’s what I did.”PGA TOUR CAREER SUMMARY PLAYOFF RECORD: 1-1Year Events Played Cuts Made 1st 2nd 3rd Top 10 Top 25 Earnings Rank1996A 11998A 1 11999A 1 11999 8 6 1 1 4 6 $784,917 532000 16 14 2 5 8 1,054,338 422001 18 14 2 2 8 12 2,898,635 62002 21 19 1 9 14 2,401,993 122003 20 12 2 4 666,386 95Total 86 67 3 3 3 28 44 7,806,269NATIONWIDE TOUR1998A 3 2 1 1 2Total 3 2 1 1 2EUROPEAN TOUR2003 5 4 2 4 $212,220PGA TOUR TOP TOURNAMENT SUMMARYYear 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03Masters T38 T40 CUT 8 T28U.S. Open T46 T12 4 T35British Open CUT T29 CUT T36 T9 T8 T10PGA 2 T34 CUT T10 CUTTHE PLAYERS CUT T50 T4 CUTTOUR Championship T2 28WGC-Accenture Match Play T9 T9 T33WGC-NEC Invitational T7 T58 T30WGC-American Express Champ T7 T5 CNL 7 T12NATIONAL TEAMS: Ryder Cup (2), 1999, 2002; Dunhill Cup (2), 1999, 2000.PLAYER STATISTICS2003 PGA TOUR STATISTICSScoring Average ------------------70.56 (48)Driving Distance ------------------300.9 (7)Driving Accuracy Percentage --57.4% (181)Total Driving ------------------------188 (89)Greens in Regulation Pct. ------66.1% (77)Putting Average--------------------1.808 (175)Sand Save Percentage ----------49.5% (107)Eagles (Holes per) ----------------102.6 (10)Birdie Average --------------------3.49 (122)All-Around Ranking --------------727 (84)Scoring Avg. Before Cut --------71.22 (121)Round 3 Scoring Avg. ------------69.18 (10)Final Round Scoring Average --72.30 (174)Birdie Conversion Percentage--29.5% (96)Par Breakers ------------------------20.4% (104)MISC. PGA TOUR STATS2003 Low Round/Round:64–WGC-NEC Invitational/1Career Low Round/Round:62–2 times, most recent 2002 WGC-American Express Championship/4Career Largest Paycheck/Finish:$720,000–2 times, most recent 2002Mercedes Championships /1SECTION 2 / PLAYER BIOSWWW.PGATOUR.COM 2004 PGA TOUR Media Guide / 2-59