Sergio Garcia of Spain has been named Asprey & Garrard Golfer of the Month for September following his superb victory in the Trophée Lancôme at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche in Paris. He earns a £1,000 donation to The Golf Foundation.
The 21 year old Spaniard claimed his third European Tour victory, following two successes in his rookie season in 1999. Garcia has also won twice on the US PGA Tour in 2001, wins which prompted European Ryder Cup Captain Sam Torrance to name him as a wild card for The 34th Ryder Cup Matches, now postponed until 2002.
Garcia was the unanimous choice of the Asprey & Garrard Panel, who were impressed by the manner in which he recovered from four strokes behind with four holes to play to deny defending champion Retief Goosen a second consecutive victory in the event. He fired rounds of 68-65-68-65 for an 18 under par total of 266 to lift the title, assisted by three birdies in a row from the 15th.
In a month which saw the cancellation of the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship and the postponement of The Ryder Cup in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States, the principal candidates considered by the Panel were Argentinian Ricardo Gonzalez and Garcia.
Gonzalez led from the start to finish to win the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre to land his maiden title on The European Tour and succeed his countryman, Eduardo Romero. Gonzalez shot rounds of 65-67-68-68 for a 16 under par total of 268 and a three stroke win over Denmark’’s Søren Hansen.
The Panel also paid tribute to Europe’’s Ryder Cup Captain Torrance for the dignified manner in which he handled the postponement of the Matches at The De Vere Belfry following the enormity of the tragedy in the United States.
The Asprey & Garrard Award is presented to a European Tour Member each month from January to November for their performances on The European Tour International Schedule and in worldwide competition. This year the other winners have been: Justin Rose (January), Aaron Baddeley (February), Thomas Björn (March), José Coceres (April), Andrew Oldcorn (May), Retief Goosen (June), Darren Clarke (July) and Paul Casey (August).
