Credits the Performance of TaylorMade's Tour Burner Driver and TP Red Ball as Crucial to His Victory
CARLSBAD, Calif. (May 12, 2008) – TaylorMade-adidas Golf (TMaG) Tour Staff professional Sergio Garcia used TaylorMade's new Tour Burner® driver in a performance for the ages en route to winning the 2008 Players Championship, including a performance from the tee on Friday that a former PGA Tour player and veteran NBC on-course analyst called it " the best driving round of golf I have ever seen."
"Under the conditions, I think it was definitely my best driving round ever," said Garcia of Friday's round. "More than anything because I was placing it where I wanted, on the side of the fairway where I needed to be."
Garcia's success off the tee throughout the week repeatedly put him in optimum position to hit green after green, which proved a huge advantage over his competitors. For the week he averaged 283 yards off the tee, ranked No. 1 in driving accuracy and No. 1 in greens in regulation.* In the first round he hit 16 of 18 greens; in the second round he hit every fairway. 
In fact, Garcia's relentless tee-to-green game made victory possible. On a "second-shot" course that demands precision approaches, he again and again found the proper fairway landing areas off the tee, thanks to the power and precision of his Tour Burner driver and the wind-beating aerodynamics of his TP Red™ ball with LDP technology. Following the event he called the TP Red "easily the best wind ball I've ever played."
Playing in the penultimate group on Sunday, Garcia buried a seven-foot par-putt on the 72nd hole to stay within a shot of the lead. Moments later the leader, in the final twosome, missed his own 15-footer for par, forcing a sudden-death playoff with Sergio that started on the infamous par-three 17th at TPC Sawgrass. Challenged by strong winds that gusted throughout the day, Garcia's tee shot, with a TaylorMade® Z TP sand wedge, landed safely near the center of the island and trickled to within four feet of the cup; his opponent's found the water. Two putts later, the Spaniard had won the biggest event of his life.
The new Tour Burner driver features TaylorMade's Dual Crown technology to help players of all types launch the ball higher and with less spin, promoting increased distance and control. Learn more. The TP Red ball features TaylorMade's LDP technology, which promotes improved distance on the most common driver mis-hits, and which helps make TaylorMade TP balls (including TP Black™) exceptionally resistant to the effects of headwinds and crosswinds. Learn more.
The Players Championship, considered by many to be golf's "Fifth Major," annually boasts what is arguably the strongest field of any professional tournament in the world. The win gives Garcia, 28, more PGA Tour titles, seven, than any player under 30, and also vaulted him from 16th place to 3rd on the World Ryder Cup points list.
TaylorMade was the No. 1 brand of driver, fairway wood, hybrid and iron at The Players Championship, and the Tour Burner driver was the most-player model for the seventh consecutive week on the PGA Tour. Five of the top nine finishers in the "Fifth Major" relied on TaylorMade equipment. The runner-up used TaylorMade's Rossa® Monza® Spider putter to finish No. 1 in the field in putts per round and No. 1 in putts per GIR.
In Garcia's winning bag:
* TaylorMade Tour Burner TP driver 9°
* TaylorMade Burner TP 3-wood 14.5°
* TaylorMade r7® TP 5-wood 17.5°
* TaylorMade rac™ MB TP irons (3-PW)
* TaylorMade Z TP 54° and 58° wedge
* TaylorMade TP Red with LDP Technology
* TaylorMade Targa Tour glove
* adidas Golf TOUR360 LTD footwear
* adidas Golf ClimaCool® apparel, including ClimaCool pants
*= PGATOUR.com