Dubai: Last week’s Qatar Masters champion Chris Wood has said beating his childhood hero Sergio Garcia made his first European Tour victory even sweeter. The 25-year-old World No 60 of England hit an eagle on the 18th to card 18 under par, while the Spanish, 33-year-old World No 14 could only birdie.
Wood said: “When I was a junior, I used to keep a notebook, I took note of every [golf] lesson, and had stickers of Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia on the front and back.
“I remember watching Sergio on the putting green at the Ryder Cup at The Belfry in 2002 and kind of hoping that I could be like that one day. So to beat him last week was pretty satisfying.”
Garcia said: “It’s great to know that he kind of looked up to me a little bit when he was younger.
“It was nice to see him not only eagle the last, but to come back after missing out on winning several times.
“To come back after a double bogey on three and be able to win, I think that was maybe more impressive than the eagle on the last. Because it’s easy to start thinking: ‘I’m leading and now I’ve doubled the third and now everybody is on my back’. That was good to see.
“I was happy for him. He’s a nice guy and he deserves it. He probably deserved to win before last week.”
