2020 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open: Top 10 power rankings at TPC Summerlin
Sergio Garcia made his Sanderson Farms Championship debut last week and won.
He makes his Shriners Hospitals for Children Open debut this week. Will it equal another ‘W’?
I’m not willing to go that far, but I’ve got him in my top 10 this week after room was made in the power rankings due to my former No. 7, Tony Finau, withdrew Tuesday after testing positive with COVID-19.
Garcia’s win came out of nowhere. It was his first on the PGA Tour since his 2017 Masters win and first worldwide since the KLM Open on the European Tour in September 2019.
He’s now won worldwide every year since 2011.
The Spaniard’s previous four starts before Mississippi were MC-T66-MC-MC.
“Well, it’s obviously a boost of confidence, there’s no doubt,” ASAP Sports quoted Garcia in his winner’s press conference. “Every time you play well, even if I would have not won it, it still would have been a massive high for me this week. To be able to do a lot of the things that I did, it meant a lot. It showed me a lot of what I still have and what I still can do.”
Garcia went on to say in his press conference that he feels comfortable with all the equipment in his bag, which may have been a contributor for his poor play of late.
He did have some moments of brilliance earlier in 2020. The 40 year old posted two top-10s and a top-25 in the Middle East and in June jumped into contention for T-5th at the RBC Heritage.
In his win at the Sanderson, Garcia posted 68-68-66-67 to in by one. A tremendous approach on the 18th helped seal his 11th career PGA Tour victory.
He led the field in strokes gained off the tee (1.37), which is important looking ahead to TPC Summerlin where driver is in hand often. He was also third in SG approach (1.75).
Garcia didn’t even putt or chip well and still got it done. That’ll cost him from going back-to-back, but his ball striking will remain in form to keep him in the mix at the Shriners.