May
12
The Grown Up Garcia
May 12, 2008 |
On a course that often times rewards the best ball strikers; the world’s second best ball striker came through; finally. Sergio Garcia is the 2008 Players Champion and that ‘thud’ that you just heard is the sound of a very large monkey jumping off the brilliant Spaniard’s back.
Garcia has been agonizingly close to wining big tournaments in the past but there have been two things standing in his way. Himself and his putter. Garcia first burst onto the golf stage as a 15 year old in the 1995 British Open. Since turning professional, in 1998 he has won 6 times on the European Tour and yesterday’s triumph at the TPC was his seventh win on the PGA Tour.
Real or imagined, Garcia has a “me against the world attitude” as evidenced by his press conference after losing the playoff in last year’s British Open in which he blamed everybody but himself, for losing.
There is a fine line between being honest with yourself and forgiving yourself for your failures (which is a mandatory attribute for great golfers). Perhaps, Garcia grew up yesterday.
Faced with make or break putts on the final two holes of regulation, he delivered. In a big way. Garcia even admitted that he had a small grin on his face when standing over the putt on 18, and that he had played the final round, without worrying about the outcome (translation; he was playing in his “style”; a Persuader). He was playing more like the teenager who played with abandon and joy, 10 years ago, rather than a grizzled veteran, grinding over each shot. Perhaps he has grown up, by going back to being a fun-loving kid.
Welcome back, Sergio.
Comments
4 Comments so far
Although this was NOT a Major (despite being labeled as the “5th. Major”), this was a historic win. Sergio is the first Spanish (and only second European player) player to win, what is arguably the hardest tournamnet in professional golf. I have often wondered if part of the pressure that Garcia has felt has been to follow in the footsteps of Seve and Jose-Maria. Maybe now that he has done something that they never accomplished, he will go on to the great things that have been predicted for him, for so long.
This is alway a good tournament to watch. Never having had a repeat champion, a very tough golf tournament to win. This brings up my question. Did Sergio win or did Goydos lose? Although Sergio played well all week, he still missed those close putts. In my opinion Goydos handed this tournament to Sergio. Goydos bogied 3 of his last 5 holes. This tournament should have never gone to extra holes. But it did, and Goydos throws it in the water. Sergio hit a fantastic shot to 4 feet and missed the putt. We will see if the Monkey or that “other animal”, Tiger is off his back at Torrey Piines, in June (the US Open). And one more note. The champion will not defend again next year!
Good post, Karl. You make a good point about Goydos losing the event rather than Sergio winning it. Goydos, however, was impressive in his defeat, and displayed grace and character, aftrewards. He may not be a superstar in the game, but he is a star as a man.
Sergio is a huge talent and he has at least had the courage to say that he wants to “beat Tiger”. That he wants to go head to head with him etc. It would appear that they don’t particularily like each other but Garcia, despite this bravado, probably feels that this victory is a little tainted because Tiger was not in the field (recovering form knee surgery). Witness the comment that Garcia made; “I’d like to thank Tiger for not being here, this week.”