Sergio Garcia Surpasses Phil Mickelson to Become World's Second Ranked Player

While the bottom half of the PGA Tour were battling it out for their 2009 PGA Tour cards at Disney World, the big dogs were over in China competing in the HSBC Champions' tournament. 

The HSBC Championship was the first European Tour event in the much publicized 2009 Race to Dubai. 

If you don’t think the Race to Dubai is truly getting the attention of the world’s best players, you need look no further than last week’s event.

Ten of the world’s top 20 players made the trip to China to compete, including Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott, and Padraig Harrington. 

In a tournament that was suspended several times due to rain and needed to be extended to Monday, Sergio Garcia edged out fellow Ryder Cup teammate Oliver Wilson on the second hole of a sudden death playoff to capture his second win in his last three events. 

Garcia’s win in Shanghai marks his third win in the 2008 calendar year, which was good enough to finally knock Phil Mickelson out of the No. 2 position in the World Golf rankings. 

Mickelson has been sitting behind Tiger Woods as the world’s second best player for well over a year now. However, Mickelson, who won the HSBC Championship last year, has been rather quiet in 2008, particularly in the majors.  

Garcia, on the other hand, has had what many are calling a breakthrough season. Sergio still holds the undistinguished honor of being labeled as the best player on tour to have never won a major. 

However, Garcia won the 2008 Player Championship, which is informally regarded as the fifth major. He also came within a hair of winning the PGA Championship when he was barely beat out by Padraig Harrington's otherworldly putting display over the last three holes.

The aspect of Garcia’s game which has inspired his usual critics most has been his newfound ability to make the big putt. 

Garcia once again demonstrated this ability at last week’s HSBC Championship where he holed a five-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to finish 14-under par and force a sudden death playoff with Oliver Wilson. 

Garcia’s win at the HSBC Championship is more than an average, run of the mill European Tour win.

The HSBC Championship is now a recognized event on both the PGA and European Tours and there is much talk about it becoming part of the World Golf Championship series, which would make it the first World Golf Championship event to take place outside of the United States.

Garcia is widely regarded as the best ball striker on tour.  If he is able to build upon the much improved putting we have seen from him in 2008, he could be a force to be reckoned with in 2009.    

Could Garcia finally lose the unwelcomed title of the best player to have never won a major in 2009? 

Time will tell but he has as good a chance in 2009 as he has had in quite some time.