Sergio Garcia will win a major championship – multiple majors – before his career is over.
The Spaniard hits the ball too well, has too much creativity and now even has a putter he’s apparently comfortable with. Throw all that together with the sense that Tiger Woods is, one wayward approach shot at a time, moving towards or working through, another swing change/adjustment, and that opens the door even wider.
Having said that, one wonders if nature’s course will be blunted by Garcia’s penchant for self-pity and immaturity. Sometimes it appears the effervescent 19-year-old who burst on the scene in the 1999 PGA Championship has moved eight years in the opposite direction.
Such was certainly the case last weekend after the British Open. After a sterling three days, Garcia was undone, largely because of an old bugaboo – final-round jitters. A year ago, Garcia was in the final round with Woods and bogeyed three of the first four holes to exit stage left.
This season, he ranks a pedestrian 61st in Sunday scoring on the PGA Tour, his average of 70.90 certainly an acceptable number but not likely one that will lead to hoisting trophies.
So when Garcia shot a 2-over-par 73 on Sunday, losing a three-shot lead, it was actually four at one point early in the round, and eventually falling in a four-hole playoff to Padraig Harrington, it wasn’t surprising. If anything, one might have even felt a touch of anguish in watching Garcia’s winless streak in the majors reach 36.
But then came Garcia’s post-tournament news conference. At the start, when the moderator attempted to offer an olive branch, allowing that the player must be bitterly disappointed, Garcia slapped it away, sarcastically saying, “No, I’m thrilled.”
From there, things only grew more bizarre. At one point, Garcia blamed the loss on having to wait too long on the 18th fairway for the group in front of him to clear the green during the final hole of regulation. Later, he groused about his bad luck on the par-3 16th during the playoff, his tee shot hitting the flagstick but careening some 20 feet away. Never mind that if the pin hadn’t gotten in the way, the ball may have rolled 30 feet away.
“I should write a book on how not to miss a shot in a playoff and (still) shoot 1-over,” Garcia said. “It is the way it is. I guess it’s not news in my life.”
And, just in case anyone missed the point, Garcia revisited it later, saying his misfortune Sunday was, in essence, just another case of The Man, as in … you know, the one above, trying to keep him down.
“You know what’s the saddest thing about it? It’s not the first time. It’s not the first time, unfortunately. So, I don’t know … I’m playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field.”
Granted, after what was certainly a gut-wrenching day, there are bound to be some raw emotions bubbling. But Garcia is the only golfer these things have happened to?
I think not. Perhaps he can have a chat with Charles Howell III, who, two years ago at the Buick Invitational, had a chance to beat Woods, but saw an approach shot hit the pin, and spin backwards off the green and into a pond.
Better still, Garcia should have a sit-down with Woods. The topic wouldn’t be tough luck, but rather comportment under fire. The world’s top-ranked player has come under fire in many quarters, including this one, for not winning the season’s first two majors, the Masters and the U.S. Open, after gaining at least a share of the lead in the final round.
Both times when play was done, Woods offered no excuses, merely allowing that he didn’t get the job done. Not long after the latter instance, it was revealed that Woods had played the entire U.S. Open after getting news that his wife Elin had been hospitalized with complications from her pregnancy. One day after the tournament, the Woods welcomed a daughter, Sam Alexis, into the world, an outcome that the new father meant far more than winning any tournament.
Garcia tied for third in last year’s PGA. Given the way he played in Scotland, it wouldn’t be a reach to consider him one of, if not the favorite, heading into play next month at Southern Hills in Tulsa. Regardless of wherever he falls when the final scores are tallied, the hope is that Garcia deals with it with at least a modicum of grace.
Staff writer Anthony Cottoncan be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
SPOTLIGHT: MIKE BENNETT AND ANDY PLUMMER
Two for the money
Two of the hottest names in men’s golf most fans haven’t heard of: Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer. Swing coaches, Bennett and Plummer have had as much success as anyone outside of Hank Haney the past couple of years with a technique called “stack and tilt,” where, in essence, the player stays over the ball while swinging as opposed to shifting his weight forward and through. Australian Aaron Baddeley, who has won in each of the past two years, is a client, as is Dean Wilson, who won the 2006 International not long after converting to the technique. Another disciple is 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir, who is hoping to parlay some recent success with Bennett and Plummer into a victory this week at the Canadian Open. A national hero, Weir won the 1999 Air Canada championship, but hasn’t returned to the victory circle in his native land.
