From The PGA Tour: Garrigus captures first win in 2010 Tour’s last event

The 2010 PGA Tour season came to a close last week with the playing of its final event, the Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Orlando, Florida. The final two rounds were played on the Magnolia Course at Disney World’s Shades of Green Resort.

Starting the final round a full five strokes behind leader American Roland Thatcher, his countryman Robert Garrigus scored a miraculous victory of sorts to take the top honors at 21 under par. Garrigus achieved this monumental feat by shooting a bogey free eight-under-par 64 in the final round to end up three strokes better than second place finisher Thatcher.

18-under-par Garrigus was delighted with his triumph and said, “It’s been a great week. I didn’t make a mistake today, except for one swing. I got on the first hole. I’m immediately thinking I need to put my foot on the pedal. I have to go today, because I didn’t want to play bad and have a chance of not getting my PGA Tour card.”

Garrigus was ranked 122 on the PGA Tour money list when the week began, precariously close to the 126th position and in jeopardy of losing his Tour card. Instead, under pressure he captured his first ever victory on Tour making him the 15th first time winner in 2010.

Until his win, Garrigus was infamous for snatching defeat from victory as he squandered a three stroke lead on the final hole in Memphis (St. Jude Classic) earlier this year to “hand” the trophy to England’s Lee Westwood.

After his win, Garrigus explicitly addressed his misfortune in Memphis, “Every time I got an interview it was about Memphis, but it really helped me just to realize that it’s not that big a deal. I mean to everybody that’s outside, you know, they thought I’d be devastated, and I really wasn’t. It was a stepping stone, and it helped me today. And I’m actually glad that I did that in Memphis because I knew how to handle it coming down 18.”

It reminds us of the old proverb, “A dose of adversity is often as needful as a dose of medicine”. Garrigus had also battled some personal demons earlier in his career with a serious bout of alcoholism which landed him in rehabilitation.

When asked about this time in his life he reflected back, “I went to San Diego for 30 days, went through rehab, and gained about 25 pounds in 30 days. I wasn’t eating right, I wasn’t doing anything right, wasn’t thinking right, and the next year I make it on the PGA Tour. The results were immediate. And ever since then I haven’t thought about touching anything, [alcohol] don’t really care, because I don’t care talking about it because I’m never going to touch it again.”

For his victory Garrigus not only received a winner’s check for US$846,000 but a well deserved photo opportunity with the one and only Mickey Mouse. Beyond the victory podium there were several players who were jockeying for position to keep their Tour membership by finishing 125th or higher on the year-end money list. One such player was Roland Thatcher.

Thatcher was ranked 179th on the list (and 438th in the world) before the event. A solo second finish would move him all the way up to 122nd position.

Thatcher needed a six foot putt on the 18th hole to make this happen. When asked about the putt, he commented: “And I couldn’t imagine having a more stressful moment in my life, up to this point. And you know, somehow I got my hands to stop shaking enough to make a stroke and get it to go in.”

Since Thatcher held the lead for the last two rounds and the event was being played at Disney World, a reporter couldn’t resist asking Thatcher if he felt like Cinderella, to which he said, “I wouldn’t mind
being referred to as Cinderella for the week.”

There were only two others who managed to move into the top 125. Americans Mark Wilson and Michael Connell were ranked 140th and 129th respectively on the money list before play began. With a sixth place in the event Wilson ended the year at 123rd on the money list while Connell’s seventh place finish moved him to 115th.

When asked about the pressure Connell said, “I had some anxiety. Obviously I had some anxiety, but I’ve been playing well and just kind of wanted to keep doing those same things.” The day belonged to Garrigus however. His remarkable final round seemed to make the impossible possible.

There is no better way to characterize the resurrection of Robert Garrigus than to borrow a quote from the great Sam Snead: “The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat.”

Well spoken Sam!