For the second time in 12 months, Sergio Garcia was celebrating winning an award from Canon, his Canon Shot of the Year Award following his success in the Canon European Under 21 Championships a year ago.
The teenager has shot to prominence during 1999 following a glittering amateur career in which the 1998 Canon European Under 21 Championships was one of the 20 titles he won before joining the professional ranks in April. In a field of 31 players from 16 European countries Garcia shot rounds of 69, 66 and 69 for a total of 204, six under par, to finish two shots clear of France’’s Olivier David.
Since then Garcia has won twice on the European Tour on his way to finishing third in the Volvo Order of Merit, become the youngest golfer to play in the Ryder Cup, and finished second in the US PGA Championship to Tiger Woods. Indeed it was during that week at Medinah CC, Illinois that Garcia conjured up one of the greatest shots ever witnessed in the history of the illustrious event.
Jon Phelps, Manager Sponsoring Department at Canon Europa, commented: “We at Canon Europa are all delighted Sergio Garcia won the Canon Shot of the Year Award to add to his Canon European Under 21 Championships title.
“We have followed his progress for many years and are delighted to see him continue the success he achieved at amateur level on the professional scene. The shot he produced in the US PGA Championship was a stroke of pure genius which will live long in the memory of all who witnessed it.”
Going into the final round Garcia was in joint third place, level with American Stewart Cink and two strokes behind leaders Tiger Woods and Mike Weir of Canada.
After 15 holes of an absorbing tussle, Garcia still trailed Woods by two when he reached the tee at the 452 yard 16th hole.
“My tee shot took a big kick and went straight at a tree and I said ‘oh no, get down.’’ I walked there thinking ‘please give me a shot’’ because I was only two behind and still had a chance.
“When I got to the ball I thought ‘oh no’’ again, but then I started to see the shot I wanted to hit and how the ball was lying. The lie was pretty good but I had a little twig beside the ball so I removed it carefully and focused on the shot.
“It was between a five and six iron and I had to aim about 60-70 yards left of the hole because the pin was on the right as well. I had 189 yards to the hole and had two roots near the ball. I had to slice it and had to go from the outside to the inside and couldn’’t afford to hit the first root. Then I had to make sure not to start it too far right or I might have hit the second root and the ball could have come back and hit me.
“I opened the face of a six iron as much as I could and hit a big cut and tried to get out of the way in case it hit the tree. I had to go for it. It is probably the greatest shot I’’ve played so far in my life.
“The ball landed on the green and from there I made my par four. In the end it was not good enough to catch Tiger, but I did finish runner-up in my first US PGA Championship with the help of what I’’m delighted has been named Canon Shot of the Year for 1999.”
Canon Europa has been an Official Sponsor of the European Tour since 1991. In 1999 Canon provided Official Copier and Fax support to more than twelve Tour events, and their mobile Business Service Unit, providing a full state of the art communications service for Tour Members, media and event sponsors, is a familiar sight across the Tour. Canon Europa have also been title sponsor of the Canon European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre since 1991, with the last Championship of the current Millennium being won by Lee Westwood in September 1999.
