Sergio Garcia won rather a lot last weekend. His second place finish in the USPGA Championship at Medinah earned him $378,000 and exemption to the US Tour for next year. It also secured his place on the European Ryder Cup team and according to Ben Crenshaw he "captured America's imagination" with his recovery shot from behind a tree on the 16th hole of the final round. Heady stuff, but more importantly, it ensured his inclusion in next year's Golf Masters Tour, an accolade that is sure to have sponsors adding to the deluge of offers currently on the desk of his manager Jose Marquina. Garcia was still an amateur when this season's Tour teed off back in March and was thus ineligible for a place on our list. Had he been there, it's likely that Ross Chadwick would have picked him. The Delgany member swept all before him at the season's final major with his team `Del 1' taking the weekly prize of a fourball at Mount Juliet with the fourth highest winning total of the season, £488,000.
Chadwick's scorers were the winner Tiger Woods (£200,000 including major bonus), the two men tied for third, Jay Haas and Stewart Cink (£130,000 each), and bargain buy Jerry Kelly (£27,000 for tied 26th).
Prior to this, Chadwick was a Golf Masters journeyman with the odd top-10 finish and a highest overall placing of 56th in four years of playing the competition. "I'm absolutely delighted to have made the breakthrough," he said. "I've been close so many times and thought `I must be in there' but there's always been someone better. Also my son Greg was 11th overall after the first week this year and I've had to endure some fierce ribbing since then so this win should end that."
The overall leaderboard is headed for the fourth week in a row and the ninth time in the last 10 weeks by David Maune's Cremorne 1 selection who amassed £186,500 at the PGA, the bulk of it scored by Colin Montgomerie (£95,000 for tied 6th) and Steve Pate (£79,000 for tied eighth).
His overall lead increased by almost £50,000 to £129,556 as Pat Corby's 'Blackbirds 7' and 'Blackbirds 10' both failed to fly high at Medinah allowing Roger Mullarkey's 'Twighlight Zone' to move closer to the spotlight in second place. Mullarkey's men earned £178,000 thanks mostly to Montgomerie and one of the season's big finds, Chris Perry (£60,000 for tied tenth).
Blackbirds 7 managed £115,000 and Blackbirds 10 a mere £92,000 but Corby has a couple of trump cards in his hand. Padraig Harrington is the Irish player on both teams and has the carrot of a Ryder Cup place to inspire him at Munich this week while the two leaders have Des Smyth who is taking a week off.
And with five weeks and nine tournaments left in our season, Corby has the option to make one last change to both Blackbirds line-ups while Maune and Mullarkey have already used their full quota of transfers. Who should he go for? What about Costantino Rocca, coming into form? Does a missed cut at Medinah mean that the Retief Goosen gravy train has come off the rails? Has Nick Faldo really found his game? No doubt there will be much studying of form and researching of tournament entries going on chez Corby. We're even getting tense here waiting to see who he goes for and when, but we're afraid that the rules won't allow it to be Sergio Garcia. Shame.
In addition to the BMW International in Munich, the Sprint International in Colorado counts for Golf Masters points this week.
