After three sudden death playoff holes could not decide a winner, Sergio Garcia decided it was time to call game.
On the fourth playoff hole against Lee Westwood, Garcia hit a hole-in-one on the 160-yard par three to win his group at the WGC Match Play Championship, advancing to the round of 16.
The event, which is held at the Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas, puts golfers into groups of four, with the winner advancing to the next round. Everyone plays each other over the course of three days, and with Garcia and Westwood tied after three rounds, they had to play on to settle the score.
The two could not separate from one another after three tiebreaker holes, and Westwood stuck his tee shot on No. 4 in the middle of the green to put the pressure on. Garcia responded with his ace, eliminating Westwood and securing a spot in the next round.
Garcia was the No. 39 seed in the tournament, making his advancement to this point already something of an overachievement. He called his clutch ace “lucky No. 13” for his career.
“I really don’t know what to say. Obviously, yeah, a hole-in-one is amazing. Lucky No. 13 for me…obviously the shot on 4, it’s a great shot, but then you get lucky that first of all it doesn’t hit the flag because it must have been very close to hitting the flag, and then it rolls back in,” Garcia said, per Tim Schmitt of Golfweek. “Obviously, I’m very happy about that. I’m sorry for Lee because I did a couple stupid things to him this week, the first day and today, but unfortunately one of us had to lose.”
