Similarities with a youthful Seve Ballesteros were unmistakable, as Sergio Garcia played a slashing, full-blooded recovery from rough on the right side of the 18th. And when he raced out onto the fairway to follow its flight, the ball soared over trees and came to rest, miraculously, within six feet of the hole. He then sank the putt for only the second birdie of the day there.
So it was that at TPC Las Colinas, the hugely-gifted 19-year-old moved from sixth place to a share of third in the Byron Nelson Classic on Sunday behind Loren Roberts, who captured the title after a play-off with Steve Pate. It earned the Spaniard a cheque for $144,000 on his debut as a professional in the US.
More significantly, it meant that he now needs only a further $30,474 to earn special temporary membership of the USPGA Tour, thus making him eligible for an unlimited number of sponsor's invitations. And they're already flooding in. Indeed, the further cash he needs should be readily forthcoming from appearances in the Memorial Tournament (June 3rd to 6th) and the St Jude Classic (June 10th to 13th).
In the meantime, Garcia will join an elite field - the best of the season in Europe outside the British Open - in the £1.2 million Deutsche Bank SAP Open TPC of Europe, starting on Friday at the St Leon Rot course in Heidelberg. He has also been invited to return to the Murphy's Irish Open in which he was tied 60th as an amateur last year.
His experience in the US last weekend contrasted sharply with that of his illustrious predecessor. Ballesteros was 18 when he made his US debut, partnering his older brother Manuel in the Disney Team Championship in Florida in October 1975. As it happened, they missed the cut and Seve also failed to get through the US Tour School a week later.
Against the cream of American college golf, the Spaniard had a six-round total of 441 which left him four strokes outside the qualifying limit and 18 strokes behind the winner, Jerry Pate. In fact the first official record the USPGA Tour have of Ballesteros was for a 33rd-place finish in the 1977 US Masters, which earned him $1,950.
So, Garcia did rather well in sharing third place with Chris DiMarco, Brian Watts and the reigning US Open champion Lee Janzen, who three-putted the final green. Further news of the Spaniard is that he will have Mark O'Meara's erstwhile caddie, Jerry Higginbottam, on his bag from now on.
His 62 in the first round at Las Colinas prompted compatriot Jose-Maria Olazabal to remark: "The game is too easy for this guy." But Garcia would be doing extremely well to match the American exploits of Ballesteros who has had six victories there - US Masters (1980 and 1983), Greater Greensboro Open (1979), Westchester Classic (1983 and 1988) and USF&G Classic (1985). And Olazabal has had five - US Masters (1994 and 1999), World Series (1990 and 1994) and The International (1991).
Where sudden-death golf is concerned, Roberts is perhaps best-remembered for losing to Ernie Els in a play-off which also involved Colin Montgomerie for the US Open at Oakmont in 1994. On this occasion he got up and down from a bunker at the first extra hole to beat Pate, who carded a bogey from a more difficult bunker recovery.
Meanwhile, the field for the Heidelberg event includes such luminaries as Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara, Ernie Els, Nick Price, Bernhard Langer, Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, Jesper Parnevik, Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam. Westwood's appearance, however, is contingent on his recovery from a damaged shoulder which caused him to withdraw at New Orleans earlier this month.
Eamonn Darcy, who was tied seventh behind Montgomerie in the Benson and Hedges International last Sunday, is in an Irish line-up which also includes Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Padraig Harrington, Philip Walton, Des Smyth and John McHenry,
The total budget for the tournament has been estimated at Stg£3.5 million. And a sizeable part of that figure has gone in appearance money which, curiously, is banned by the PGA European Tour. That little hurdle is being adroitly side-stepped, however, by having the recipients involved in a pre-tournament shoot-out.
