Sergio Garcia made it back-to-back European Tour victories when he captured the Andalucia Masters title on Sunday by a stroke from fellow Spaniard Miguel-Angel Jimenez. In an exciting finale at Valderrama, Garcia's closing level-par 71 for a six-under 278 total was just enough to keep out a battling Jimenez (70).
Garcia, 31, had not won for three years when he claimed the Castello Masters tiitle last week by 11 strokes. His second successive victory was harder earned as he and Jimenez produced a dramatic finish at the 1997 Ryder Cup venue, formerly the home of the tour's season-ending Volvo Masters.
Starting the day two shots ahead of the field, Garcia, bogeying the sixth and seventh, was at first overtaken by Jimenez, one of the overnight second-placed players. Garcia battled back in front by the 14th, only to be caught by the first and second round leader Richie Ramsay of Britain.
When Ramsay lost his ball on the short 15th to run up a double-bogey, however, the Scot's chance was gone. Garcia forged three ahead of the field but Jimenez, unusually without a win this season, closed the gap to two with a birdie on 16.
The popular 47-year-old, urged on by a sizeable crowd from his home town of Malaga, gave himself further hope with an eagle chance on the notorious water-protected 17th where there is a plaque to commemorate Jimenez's spectacular albatross there in 1994.
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