Garcia Earns First Professional Win at The Invitational 20152 min read

The €50,000 Confederation of Professional Golf-Sanctioned Invitational is only a two-year-old Pro-Am tournament but already one tradition has been established.

By shooting a 69 to reach ten-under par in the third and final round over the South Course at Quinta do Lago, La Reserva de Sotogrande’s Victor Garcia became the second Spaniard to win the title, following in the footsteps of his fellow countryman Gabriel Canizares in 2014.

Garcia admitted that having been part of a three-way tie for the second round overnight meant he felt nervous when walking to the first tee.

“But I steadied down when I made a birdie at the third hole,” he said after receiving the winners’ cheque for €10,000.  “And then I really gained some confidence at the par-five fifth hole when I holed a lovely chip for an eagle three.

“I feel so happy, I think it’s one of the most important days of my life because I’ve never won a tournament as a Professional before.  I want to say thanks to everybody including Eligo, Quinta do Lago, the Confederation of Professional Golf and even my partner today, it was awesome to play with him.”

Garcia was, however, chased all the way to the wire and only clinched his one-shot win by holing a putt of around two feet on the 18th green.

Local Professional, Hugo Santos [pictured below, right], finished in a three-way tie for second place.  Shooting a closing 66, he finished alongside Englishmen, Mark Mouland, who shot a 68, and David Griffiths who signed for a 70.

Garcia and his Pro-Am partner Uday Jani also closely contested the Pro-Am event having reached a betterball score of 27-under across Quinta’s Laranjal, North and South courses, but they lost on a countback to Santos and his partner Rogario Bradao [pictured below, left].

Third place in the Pro-Am went to Wales’ Bradley Dredge, a two-time European Tour winner, and his partner Daphne Fagan.

After the prize giving Warren Pike, the Group Managing Director of one of The Invitational Pro-Am’s sponsors, Eligo, said: “It was a great few days down here on The Algarve with a lot of competitive golf not only played by the professionals but also the amateurs, and we look forward to staging The Invitational Pro-Am again next year.”

For full final scores from The Invitational Pro-Am 2015 visit: http://eur.pe/2015Invitational

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For more information about The Invitational Pro-Am 2015, visit the Tournament Hub Page, follow @PGAsofEurope and search ‘#TheInvitationalProAm‘ on Twitter, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.