Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia are no strangers to conflicts with one another, but at the 2013 PGA Players Championship Woods' play did more than enough talking; Woods walked away as the tournament's champion following four rounds of consistently stellar golf.
Woods finished at 13-under par for the four day stretch, shooting rounds of 67, 67, 71, 70. He remained near the top of the leaderboard from Thursday through Sunday, while the names around him rose and fell depending on the day.
Sergio Garcia, one of Woods's loudest rivals, was ahead of him on Day 3, but shot a 76 in the final round, including a quadruple-bogey and a double-bogey on the final two holes of the round. Earlier in the weekend, Garcia said of Woods, "I'm not going to lie. [Tiger] is not my favorite guy to play with. He's not the nicest guy on tour."
Garcia didn't shy away from media after his late-round meltdown, nor did he shirk responsibility for his play. "That hole [17, the hole Garcia quadruple-bogeyed] has been good to me for the most part, " said Garcia. "Today it wasn't. That's the way it is. That's the kind of hole it is. You've got to love it for what it is." Garcia was tied with Woods at 13-under par before his tournament hopes were shot down on 17.
Woods' win at this Players Championship showcased his all-around greatness. "I hit it high, low, left-to-right, right-to-left, whatever I wanted,'' Woods said. "Except for that tee shot at 14, I didn't really miss a whole lot of shots. I pured a lot of putts, too. Could have been something pretty low today."
Woods also commented on his handling of not only the spat with Garcia, which garnered much attention, but also the fact that Garcia, among others, was on his heels on the scorecards.
"We just go out there and play. I had an opportunity to win the golf tournament when I was tied for the lead today, and I thought I handled the situation well and really played well today when I really needed to. And that's something I'm excited about it."
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