Garcia's on own island

He wins TPC in playoff on 17th

Sergio Garcia is pleased with his par putt on the 18th to set up a playoff; there'd be better news. (Hans Deryk/Reuters)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - A warm and blustery day was giving way to a sultry twilight last night when Paul Goydos crossed paths with Sergio Garcia in the doorway to the media center at TPC Sawgrass.

If it looked familiar, it's because the same scene had unfolded three days earlier. On that day, Goydos had been called in to talk about his first-round 4-under-par 68, but before leaving he acknowledged the arrival in the interview room of Garcia, who was two strokes better that day.

Fast forward and the picture had changed only slightly. This time, Garcia's edge over Goydos had been reduced to one swing, but it was the reason he carried the championship hardware that goes to the winner of The Players Championship. In an eerie slice of symmetry, Goydos - who had hit the first ball in the water at the par-3 17th at the Stadium Course Thursday - also hit the last one in, his tee shot coming up short on the first hole of a playoff to open the door for Garcia to seize that showcase victory that painfully had eluded him in his young career.

Having bogeyed the 72d hole to squander a one-stroke lead and allow Garcia to get into the playoff after they had finished at 5-under 283, Goydos hit first at the extra hole, the infamous island green. It was suggested the matter was settled when Goydos's wedge caught a gust of wind at the 128-yard hole and sank helplessly, but he shook his head.

The $9.5 million spectacle didn't end until moments later, with the supremely talented Spaniard at the wheel.

"Sergio ended it with his next swing," said Goydos, who watched as Garcia followed with a splendid shot to the middle of the green that caught a slope and filtered down to within about 3 feet.

Game, set, match, and at about the time Garcia was accepting the $1,710,000 winner's check, Goydos was refusing to criticize a hole that he had praised lavishly earlier in the week. Unpretentious as it gets and having somehow gone from an unheralded journeyman to a rousing crowd favorite in just a few magical days, Goydos deflected the heartache to find in his heart something he dishes out regularly: the truth.

"I think [that hole] did exactly what it was designed to do," said Goydos, who started the round with a one-stroke lead, shot 2-over 74, and got caught by Garcia, whose 71 was one of just eight sub-par rounds on a day when steady 25-30 mile per hour winds and gusts up to 40 caused havoc. "It just got me instead of somebody else."

For sure, the first Players Championship playoff in 21 years brought TPC Sawgrass's signature hole into prime time as tens of thousands of fans watched in sizzling warmth, but other dramas had unfolded at various points of this premier golf course to get it there. Much of the drama had been provided, too, by Jeff Quinney (70 -284, solo third), who bogeyed the 72d hole to miss the playoff by one.

The fact that at the end of it all Garcia was the one holding the trophy was perhaps more testament that fate does exist, because the 28-year-old seemingly has had the game to win these marquee events since he burst upon the scene as a precocious teenager.

The fact that he hadn't, and that he had squandered major championship leads, and often come off as childish, made easy fodder for media criticisms. He said he never read the negative stuff. But he heard plenty about it.

"At the end of the day," said Garcia, who became just the second European to win this 35-year-old tournament, "it's like I said, 'I know where I stand and I know where I can get.' The most important thing is that I never lose that."

At so many turns, it appeared Garcia was indeed destined for yet another heartbreaking loss, because when he started his day with a bogey and went to the turn in 1-over 37, he trailed Goydos by two. It shockingly became three when somehow, Goydos manufactured a piece of magic that seemingly had been flowing his way all week - a 35-yard wedge shot that he holed out of thick rough at the par-4 10th.

"It was getting borderline ridiculous at that point," deadpanned Goydos, a two-time winner in his 16-year-old PGA Tour career, but always in the shadows of the game's giants. But a rare individual out here who uses a self-deprecating style and chugs along without concern about mega contract and clothing deals and does not have a hat deal ("I'm not worried about what's on my head; my focus is to play the best golf I can," he said), Goydos had gathered great support.

The common man had become the crowd favorite.

"I got to be Tiger Woods for a day," he said.

With the real Tiger Woods sidelined following knee surgery, the "new" one followed his dramatic shot at the 10th with a deft one at the par-4 12th and his 3-foot birdie roll pushed him to 7 under. By now, Goydos's playing competitor, Kenny Perry (81 -291 to fall from second to T-15) was out of the hunt. The focus was on Garcia and Quinney one group ahead.

Garcia struck with birdies at the 11th and 12th, then shook off a bogey at the par-3 13th with a scintillating 45-foot birdie roll at the par-4 14th to get to 5 under. Quinney, the 2000 US Amateur champion, had birdied the 11th and 13th to get to 4 under. But it was the unheralded Goydos still setting the pace, at least until he failed to get it up-and-down after missing the green at both the 14th and par-4 15th.

Dropping to 5 under, Goydos was tied with Garcia, and when Quinney reached the par-5 16th in two splendid shots and two-putted for birdie, it was a three-way tie.

At least for a while, or until Goydos came along to birdie the 16th, push to 6 under, and regain the lead.

With his challengers headed to the 18th tee, Goydos zeroed in on the island-green 17th, knowing the dangers that lurk. Surely, his nerves were racing, so what was he thinking?

"About Gilligan's Island," he said. He laughed and explained: "I was trying to calm myself down a little bit and make levity."

Playing it for the fourth time, Goydos navigated it perfectly, a shot onto the green, then two putts to maintain his one-shot lead, but minutes later he had only one challenger because Quinney, after missing the fairway wide right at the 18th, made bogey. Garcia, who also missed the fairway right, hacked out his second shot, then hit his third to 7 feet behind the hole. Knowing his only chance was to make the roll, the often-criticized putting stroke was true when it had to be, and Garcia's perfect par-save afforded him a chance.

Minutes later, Goydos couldn't duplicate Garcia's feat. His layup after missing the fairway with his drive left him about 48 yards, but Goydos chunked it slightly. With a 15-footer to win, Goydos had the club in hand that had carried him this far, his putting so pure all week. But on this roll, he was slightly wide.

Much worse, some 15 minutes later he was shockingly short with a wedge on the playoff hole.

After four riveting days, 72 holes of newfound and never-before-experienced fame, Goydos had been edged by a young man whose star has been on the rise for some 10 years and finally may have arrived.

And Goydos's day as Tiger Woods? He smiled.

"That's from a crowd standpoint," he clarified. "Not from a talent standpoint."

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.