Closer Look: Showdown for the ages Click here for more on this story Posted: Monday August 16, 1999 09:47 AM By Gary Van Sickle, Sports Illustrated MEDINAH, Ill. -- Sunday may have been an historic day, something like the clash of the titans at Cherry Hills in the 1960 U.S. Open when Arnold Palmer and a young Jack Nicklaus first crossed swords. If the PGA Championship at Medinah turns out to be the start of something big between Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia, historians will owe it all to Woods, who faltered on the back nine and turned what had the makings of another major runaway into a tense, suspense-packed drama filled with shots that were remarkable, remarkably bold and, at times, remarkably poor. Woods appeared to have his second major title nailed down after he birdied the par-4 11th to take a five-shot lead. With apologies to Jean Van de Velde, you figured it was over. Two holes changed all that. Woods three-putted from long distance at the 12th. Then came the stunning 13th, a par-3 over water. Garcia, the 19-year-old Spanish wunderkind known as El Niño, had just birdied the hole, looking back at Woods on the tee as he theatrically pumped his arm and threw down the gauntlet. Woods missed the green just left, in the deep rough, and faced a difficult downhill chip shot. Woods couldn't strike the ball cleanly and sent it over the front of the green, back into the deep stuff. Then he made a serious mistake, chipping the ball past the pin, leaving himself a dangerous eight-foot downhill putt for bogey. He missed that putt to the left and watched the putt trickle three feet below the hole. It was no gimme coming back and Woods made it for double bogey, but the game was on. If Woods and Garcia develop a rivalry, the 13th hole at Medinah's No. 3 course is where it all started. "I just wanted him to know I was still there and let him know he had to play well to win," Garcia said of his celebration on the 13th green. "I was kind of telling him, If you want to win, you have to play well. But I did it with good feelings. I wasn't wishing him to make a triple bogey or anything." The finish turned into a memorable duel as Garcia hit amazing shots out of the trees at the 15th and 16th holes, the latter helping him recover for a critical par. Garcia slashed a six-iron shot out from the base of a tree at the 16th and ran it onto the back of the green, a seemingly impossible -- if not ill-advised shot -- that he pulled off with all the ease of his mentor, Seve Ballesteros. Woods went home with the victory, but Garcia's shot and his exuberant sprint and jump is the shot that this tournament will be remembered for. There was an element of danger to it because the ball could've struck a root and ricocheted back and hit Garcia, which would've been a two-shot penalty. "Then I probably would've made an 8," Garcia said. "I thought about chipping it out." The stroke that probably won it for Woods came at the 17th green, when he missed the green left and landed in the deep rough, carefully chipped just onto the green, and then holed a slick six-foot par putt that sent him to the 18th, not a difficult hole, with a one-stroke lead that he easily protected with a routine par. Was a rivalry born Sunday? Stay tuned. Gary Van Sickle is a Sports Illustrated senior writer.   Related information Stories Woods holds on to win PGA by one shot over Garcia So much for Tiger-mania, here comes "El Nino" Putt on No. 17 slows Garcia's momentum, gives Woods title Multimedia Click here for the latest audio and video Search our site Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.

Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines.