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Garcia, whose seven PGA Tour victories are the most by any player under age 30, earned $1.71 million (?1.11 million) from the richest purse in golf and solidified himself as a major contender with the U.S. Open a month away.
"The goal is to keep getting better, and the only thing this tells me is to keep working hard and to believe in myself," Garcia said. "And when I do believe in myself, I think there's not a lot of guys out there that can beat me.
"I'm looking forward to keep going. I don't want to get stuck here."
The consolation for Goydos was $1.026 million (?660,000) for second, more than he earned for winning the Sony Open last year. And he felt no shame in losing to Garcia, whom he raved about earlier in the week as one of the top talents in the game.
After the first round Thursday, Goydos said something that turned out to be prophetic.
"Once he gets his putter going, he's going to win a lot," Goydos said. "This guy's going to win 80 times."
Goydos may have been exaggerating, but he's serious about his belief that Garcia will win several majors.
"He's right there on the precipice of great things," Goydos said.
Jeff Quinney had a chance to join the playoff. He went bogey-free for 10 holes in gusts that topped 65 kph (40 mph) at times, but failed to save par from a bunker behind the 18th green and had to settle for a 70 and third place alone, one shot behind.
Garcia never needed a victory so badly.
The best player without a major was in the longest victory drought of his career, stretching over three years and 53 starts on the PGA Tour.
He had a 10-foot putt to win the British Open at Carnoustie last summer, then lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington. No club troubled him more than the putter, and this week was no exception.
Garcia took 124 putts in regulation, 18 more than Goydos.
But he came up big in the final round, rolling in a collection of par putts that kept him in the hunt, birdie putts that challenged Goydos and then the one on the 18th that made this victory possible.
"I actually had a little grin when I was going to the ball because I felt so calm," Garcia said. "I don't know if this is going to be enough or not, but I'm going to make this putt, and I'm at least going to make Paul work a little bit. I was so happy to see that putt go in."
