Garcia romps to easy Castello Masters victory

Spaniard Sergio Garcia turned the race for the Castello Masters into a procession, bringing an end to a three-year trophy drought over the course where he first won the club championship at the tender age of 12 years old.

Garcia, who last season was on the brink of chucking the game altogether as he battled with a loss of form, dedicated the win to the late Seve Ballesteros after posting a closing round 63 for a 27-under par winning score of 257 – a monster 11 shots clear of second placed Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.

“That was for Seve.” he said after coasting to victory – a remarkable turnaround given he was 1-over par through 10 holes on the first day, before exploding into life.

Despite taking an 8-shot lead into the final round, Garcia made sure of victory with a closing round that included nine birdies and one bogey, to post his second 63 of the week – his other rounds were 67 and 64 – for the joint-third largest victory margin in European Tour history.

A day of low scoring saw second placed Fernandez-Castano sign for a 64 – which included back-to-back bogeys on the final two holes – that put him one shot clear in second placed ahead of Swede Alex Noren and Scot Richie Ramsay.

For Noren, any hopes of matching Garcia were smashed with a poor third round 73, but like Fernandez-Castano he also put together a closing 64, and did so with no dropped shots to close on 15-under par. Ramsay could have taken third on his own, but for a bogey on the 17^th hole.

South African duo Thomas Aiken and George Coetzee continued their fine recent runs of form with rounds of 63 and 66 respectively to take fifth and sixth spot on 14-under and 12-under par; Germany’s Marcel Siem a further shot behind on 11-under after a round of 67.

For Garcia, it is a long-overdue win, and it was only a matter of time before the 31-year old found his way back into the winner’s circle. In 2011, Garcia has posted top-12 finishes in the US Open, Open Championship and US PGA Championship, as well as narrowly losing out to countryman Pablo Larrazabal in a 5-hole playoff for the BMW International Open in Munich back in June.

The win pushes Garcia – a former Ryder Cup player – up to just outside the top-30 in the Official Golf World Ranking, after starting the week at 49^th. It is also the second time he has won the event – he last won it in 2008, while he has finished in the top-4 in three of his four appearances. It was his ninth career European Tour victory.

“I would like to thank not only my family and friends, but also my sponsors, everyone that’s around me, for supporting me through two tough years,” he said afterwards. “They have stuck with me and believed in me and I’m happy to be able to pay them back with this victory.

“At the beginning of the week there’s always a little extra pressure because you want to do well in front of your home fans and on your home course. But I felt really good and it showed. Hopefully I can keep moving forward, but there are still some things I can improve on.”

And although early days in terms of qualifying, Garcia could now be in the reckoning to reclaim a Ryder Cup place; his last playing appearance coming in 2008, while he was one of Colin Montgomerie’s vice-captains at The Celtic Manor in 2010’s European victory.

Viva la Vida – an official tribute to the great Seve Ballesteros Wednesday 14th December 2011, Natural History Museum, London

The Seve Ballesteros Foundation’s flagship fundraising event, Viva la Vida, at the Natural History Museum on December 14, will be attended by some of the players who knew him best, including José María Olazábal and Paul McGinley. They’ll be talking about some of their own private dealings with the Spanish legend as part of a celebratory evening raising funds for research into brain cancer. Read more

Seve Ballesteros Foundation

Following the tragic death of golfing great Seve Ballesteros, Your Golf Travel committed to donating a pound for every golfer who booked a golf break in May 2011 to the Seve Ballesteros Foundation.

Word of our donation to the Seve Ballesteros Foundation got through to Ivan Ballesteros; Seve’s nephew and manager and he had some very kind words for us indeed. Read more

The Seve Ballesteros Foundation & Your Golf Travel

On the 7^th of May 2011 the golf world lost one of its brightest stars. The great Seve Ballesteros sadly lost his battle with cancer and the golfing world mourned the loss of one of the game’s greatest players and most infectious characters. Many golf fans from all over the world paid their tributes to the great Spaniard and Your Golf Travel were keen to honour the great man by donating a pound to the Seve Ballesteros Foundation for every golfer we booked in May who travels in 2011. Read more

Top 5 Open Championships

The Open Championship is the flagship event for the sport of golf and often serves up highs and lows to the entire field which makes for some of the most exciting golf that can be seen anywhere in the world. In the modern game traditional links golf is a rare commodity and as such the courses that host The Open are the real stars of the show. They are the courses from which the modern game grew and as the oldest Championship in golf, The Open is the most prestigious event of the season. Players do battle with devilish pot bunkers, knee high rough and of course the weather that roars in off the sea. The Open is a test of golf like no other and has brought us some of the most entertaining and iconic moment s the game has ever seen. With the 140^th Open Championship upon us we take a look back at five of the very best tournaments to date, one of which took place at this year’s venue, Royal St Georges. Read more

Next Page »