Medinah, Ill.
Imagine a world in which you could turn on a TV and not have a certain golfer trying to give you his car or entice you to use a particular credit card. Imagine, if you would, a Tiger-free zone, sort of like International week at Castle Pines.
Chances are, that wouldn’t happen. Tiger Woods’ skills and marketability are such that his climb to the top of both the golf and popularity charts were inevitable. However, being at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club, site of this week’s PGA Championship, hearkens memories of the last time the season’s final major was played here, of what has transpired in the game since then. And, of what might have been.
On the final day of the 1999 PGA, Woods, in the midst of the first significant swing change of his 2-year-old professional career, outlasted a precocious 19-year-old named Sergio Garcia by one stroke for his second major championship. From there, Woods would go on to win four of the next five majors, a total he’s now increased to 11.
Meanwhile, Garcia, now 26, is still looking for his first, a frustration that has garnered him a far more dubious title, the best player never to have won a major.
The difference between then and now may never have been more apparent than at the British Open last month at Royal Liverpool. Paired in the final round Woods shot a magnificent 5-under-par 67. Garcia, looking like a lemon in an all-yellow outfit, bogeyed two of his first three holes en route to a 73.
If any other 26-year-old had done that, or accomplished what Garcia’s done in majors in the seven seasons since 1999 at Medinah – five top-5s and nine top-10s in 27 starts – they might be the darling of Madison Avenue. In Garcia’s case though, the cumulative record is tainted with the whiff of disappointment.
“If I think about it myself, of course I think that I could have done better,” Garcia said Wednesday . “If I think about it realistically, I think I’ve had a good career so far.
“I don’t think many guys under 30 have had a much better career than I do. You’re 26, been playing professionally for about eight years. I think I’ve been in the top 10 in the world probably five years at least. It’s got to be a good career.”
At one point Wednesday, Garcia said he feels he “definitely” could have won two or three majors but moments later admitted, “I probably didn’t deserve it.”
Not long before that though, he chastised the press for hoisting unrealistic expectations upon him.
“It’s not easy to go out there and win a major when you’re young, when you’re in your 20s,” Garcia said. “Tiger’s been able to do that plenty of times and so you expect everybody else to do the same. It’s not that easy.”
In 1999, there was no pressure on Garcia, no death grip on the putter. Just an exuberance that, as exhibited after a crucial shot near a root of a tree on the 16th hole during Sunday’s final round, made it appear there would be no limits to what the Spaniard could accomplish.
“I remember him scissor-kicking up the fairway, and mimicking the shot he made with his eyes closed. He was like this young swashbuckler that we were introducing to the world,” CBS golf announcer Jim Nantz said of that tournament. “He was so expressive, there’s a little less of that now. It’s such a mentally draining game. If there were anything I would wish for him and the game, it would be him to grab one of those majors and just take off.”
Perhaps, in a perfect world, that would happen this week, back where Garcia’s career truly began. If it did, Woods, for one, wouldn’t be surprised.
“He’s got all the talent in the world,” Woods said. “It’s just a matter of doing the right thing at the right time, but he’s put himself there. You put yourself there enough times, you’re going to get it done.
“There’s probably no better example of that than Phil (Mickelson). Phil went through a lot more than what Sergio’s gone through, and once he learned how to win, he’s won three (majors) in a very short period of time. It’s just a matter of getting over that first one.”
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
Screened out
Sergio Garcia has finished in the top-10 in 10 major championships since the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah. Here’s a look at the players standing between the Spaniard and the winners’ circle.
Year Tournament Garcia’s finish Winner
2001 British Open T-9th David Duval
2002 Masters 8th Tiger Woods
2002 U.S. Open 4th Tiger Woods
2002 British Open T-8th Ernie Els
2002 PGA T-10th Rich Beem
2003 British Open T-10th Ben Curtis
2004 Masters T-4th Phil Mickelson
2005 U.S. Open T-3rd Michael Campbell
2005 British Open T-5th Tiger Woods
2006 British Open T-5th Tiger Woods
