CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE — “Again?” the psychologist asks the patient.
“Otra vez,” Sergio Garcia says, sprawled upon the worn cushions, shrinking into the shrink’s couch.
“OK,” the psychologist says with a sigh. “Let’s hear it.”
“It’s pretty much like all the other ones, doc,” Garcia says, voice trembling. “This time I’m standing in the bunker, but it’s quicksand. I look behind me, and there’s Tiger Woods, a sun ray illuminating him upon the fairway. In front of me, on the green, I see the hole, and I know I can make this shot … but then Rory McIlroy zips by. Then Rickie Fowler. And there’s Bubba Watson. I’m sinking fast, and I don’t know what to do next. What could it all mean, doc?”
“It means you should use a sand wedge,” the doctor replies. “That’s what Rory would do.”
I bet the little dream makers, hidden in the crawl space of Garcia’s noggin, have a field day cooking up metaphors. A younger Garcia was penciled in to be Joe Frazier to Woods’ Muhammad Ali, but goodness, even Frazier was the champ for a while. Garcia, 34, his chin skin a little looser than during his teenage days, has yet to win a golf major. Fittingly, he’s won The Players Championship, the “fifth major,” an appropriate career accomplishment for the guy who’s always been almost great.
Perhaps this makes him the guy to root for at Cherry Hills this weekend, because the wunderkind has proven human. Playing with an ear ache on a gray day, Garcia grinded to a 6-under-par 64 on Friday, putting him at 8-under overall and atop the leaderboard at the BMW Championship. He sits one slot ahead of Ryan Palmer and two up on McIlroy, the cool kid in school.
Part of me feels sad for Garcia. He could up winning the BMW, he could end up marrying his stunning girlfriend, Katharina Boehm, and he could end up with enough career earnings to buy Portugal for his native Spain … and he’ll still just be the guy who never won a major. His time has arguably passed, and with all the young guns and their muscles and ironic mustaches, winning a major nowadays might be as tough as when Woods was winning.
Who knows, though — says the optimist! — maybe we’re witnessing the start of something magical. Maybe Sergio will surge to a title in Colorado, where he’s often enjoyed playing a little golf, and go on to win the FedEx Cup playoffs and payout. If he wins here, he’ll catapult from No. 23 in the standings to No. 2. So then, we’ll spend all winter wondering if Garcia, finally, can muster up a Masters or something.
What’s been impressive here, so far, is the way Garcia has stayed ahead of the pack. He hit just five of 14 fairways Thursday — and did the same Friday. But he’s only bogeyed twice, both on that dastardly eighth hole, a brutal par-3. And word of his eagle buzzed across Cherry Hills, even if cellphones were on silent. Garcia holed a lob wedge from 126 yards on the par-4 seventh.
“I didn’t play badly, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like I was playing better at the British Open and at Bridgestone and stuff,” Garcia said, providing some hope for an even stronger performance Saturday. “So hopefully I’ll be able to do that. … Every time you win it’s great, but it’s still two days — it’s still a long ways to go.”
This could be Garcia’s weekend. Spain could reign — barring, of course, rain. But no matter how thrilling he plays, and no matter how much money he banks, it’s still just the BMW Championship. Quick, who won the BMW Championship last year? For that matter, who won the FedEx Cup playoffs? I can’t remember. But I can surely tell you who won the Masters.
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or
