Garcia starts pro career

Sergio Garcia walked into his first news conference as a professional wearing a snappy suit with cameras clicking. The only thing missing Wednesday was a full-page newspaper advertisement that said, "Hello, World."

Equipped with the most celebrated amateur career since Tiger Woods, the 19-year-old Spaniard who was the low amateur in the Masters makes his pro debut Thursday in the Peugeot Open.

"This is not a new page for me as a golfer, it's a new book. One that has no headings or records, the pages are still blank," Garcia said at the Golf Club of Prat. "My move to professional golf will start from zero."

He is the second European teen-ager in as many years to turn pro, only Garcia is expected to fare much better than Justin Rose. After his tie for fourth in the British Open last year, Rose immediately turned pro and hasn't made a cut in 18 tries.

Garcia will be able to play seven European tour events this year to make enough money to avoid going to qualifying school.

He also is expected to use sponsor exemptions to play the Nelson Classic, the St. Jude Classic and the Sprint International on the PGA Tour.

"You never know what is going to happen," he said. ``But if I should win, it would be fantastic."

That may sound like a big ambition. But then, the 19-year-old prodigy known as "El Nino" has always faced high expectations.

At 12, Garcia became the club champion at Mediterranean Golf Club, where is father is the pro. Two years later, he made the cut in his European PGA debut at the Mediterranean Open and became the youngest European Amateur Champion at 15.

He played his first British Open in 1996 and missed the cut at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. After the tournament, champion Tom Lehman handed Garcia the claret jug and told him, "Someday you will win this."

Garcia won his first professional event at 17, the Catalonia Open on the Spanish PGA Tour. After winning the British Amateur last year, he came to American and finished third in a Nike Tour event in Greensboro, N.C.

The Peugeot Open is a perfect place for Garcia to make his pro debut. He set the European record last year in this tournament for having the lowest score by an amateur, an 11-under 277.

"I think I have the game to win here, but I'm going to take it calmly and just enjoy the play," Garcia said.

The Peugeot Open also marks the first tournament for Jose Maria Olazabal since he won the Masters two weeks ago. Olazabal thought Garcia made the right decision to turn pro.

"I think Sergio is a special player, and he's a long hitter with a great short game. I think he'll do well," Olazabal said.

"The best thing for him will be that people leave him alone, let him play as many tournaments as he can and get as much as experience as he can without people putting a lot of expectations on him,"

Woods turned pro in 1996 after winning his third straight U.S. Amateur and signed endorsements with Nike and Titleist worth about $60 million over five years. He repeated the words in the newspaper ad -- "Hello, world" -- at his news conference, then proceeded to win two tournaments in and won two tournaments in his eight starts that year.

Manager and family adviser Jose Marquina said Garcia has agreements with Acushnet to play the Titleist driver, Titleist ball and Cobra irons, and with Adidas to wear its shoes and apparel.

TRW