Secret to Sergio’s Masters glory
As sergio Garcia arrived on the 18th green, the strangest sound, the most unfamiliar sensation, enveloped him.
As one, the Masters patrons — or the crowd, as they are known at every other sporting event in the world — chanted his name.
‘sergio, sergio,’ on and on. They don’t have too much original material, the American sports public, but it did not matter. This was enough. They wanted him to win. He was their man.
There are popular champions, and resented ones, too. Garcia is popular. so too the All Blacks, Brazil’s football team, Roger Federer, Leicester City — last year, not this, they’ve blown it with the neutrals now — Chicago Cubs, Paula Radcliffe.
some are popular because they excite with their excellence, others because they enthral with their narrative, Radcliffe because there is something very pure, very open and very noble about wanting to win from the front. There has always been favour for an underdog, too, but ever more in this age of reality television, we also love a back story.
Garcia delivered on each count. His 73 major tournaments without victory, his near misses, his crises, his self-doubt — displayed so nakedly at Augusta in 2012 when he despaired of having the character to win big. He is a fine golfer, too — as Justin Rose said, the best without a major title — and there was also a sense that he deserved his moment, that he was due. Lee Westwood would be another popular champion, for the same reason; just like Darren Clarke. so when Garcia looked around at the conclusion of his epic battle with Rose, he saw only smiling faces.
It has not always been that way here. During the time when he developed the habit of regripping the club before striking — it grew to be an anguished obsession, and could happen 20 times or more on every shot at its height — he became somethingmething of a mark for the loudmouthed galleries that can invade the PGA Tour. From captivating audiences with his enthusiasm as a teenager, he was dubbed a whiner, a complainer, and a flake.
‘There are a lot of great places in the United states where I feel so much support,’ Garcia said. ‘But there can also be a group who are just trying to be funny with me, or funny with everyone.
‘It’s easy to get some of those unfortunate drunk guys who start saying things that shouldn’t be said on a golf course and get a little bit out of line. But the patrons here have always been amazing. Every year. It doesn’t matter if you’re winning the tournament or finishing 30th.’
And he did a lot of finishing 30th, too, living in Tiger Woods’ shadow. Maybe this is equally part of Garcia’s charm.charm Whatever he might have said, however much he may have doubted his talent, or moaned, or dissed hallowed Augusta at one stage, he never gave up.
By the time Rory McIlroy won the Us Open in 2011, Garcia had slipped to 75th in the world. He is now seventh.
It must have felt strange to British audiences late on sunday night, no doubt willing Rose to win yet always with the feeling they had two dogs in the fight. strange, but not wholly exceptional. When Andy Murray plays Federer there is always a percentage of the crowd who are not on his side, even at Wimbledon.
The same during Tim Henman’s semi-final with Goran Ivanisevic in 2001. Having fought his way through as a wild card with often absurd displays of machismo, Ivanisevic was a very popular dasher of British hopes. Indeed, some years later, it took an emotional interview on Centre Court, after defeat by people’s choice Federer, for Murray to turn his own public narrative around.
Garcia is perhaps nearest to Murray in the way he has wrested back his image, and honesty was the key in both cases.
It was Murray’s open and sincere display of emotion after losing the 2012 Wimbledon final to Federer that swept away his curmudgeonly reputation. similarly, Garcia’s very apparent fragility made the American public see the human being within.
For popular is not always the same as admired. Woods is the greatest golfer of the modern era. But a popular winner? Compared to, say, Phil Mickelson? Nick Faldo was not a popular champion, but sandy Lyle was, and there is no doubt who was the better golfer.
Manchester United under sir Alex Ferguson were hugely admired, but rarely overwhelmed with affection. The phrase ABU — it stands for ‘ anyone but United’, and describes the attitude of many rival fans — did not exist around Old Trafford before he came along. Jose Mourinho’s teams are never popular, either. Maybe it’s not so much to do with victory, as defeat.
If the dramatic, courageous manner of Garcia’s play- off triumph showed how to win, then the dignified, philosophical Rose showed how to lose. Not that this made him a loser. There was nothing docile in his display, no lack of commitment. He was 50 per cent of a gladiatorial finish to the first major of 2017, one of the greatest climaxes to a competition in golf’s history.
Then, in the tumult that followed, he found time to tweet congratulations to Garcia shot through with decency and perspective. When so much bile sours sport and social media, here is Rose to remind how it could be.
‘Incredible battle out there,’ he wrote. ‘sport in the moment can be tough. But it’s just sport. Hope you guys enjoyed it.’
Who, reading that, does not wish for Rose to win another major? Who wouldn’t root for him in similar circumstances next time? A prize in a popularity contest is not the same as owning a green jacket, of course, but Rose’s understated generosity may earn him even more fans than a successful 8ft birdie putt on the last.
Certainly Rose’s sport emerged well, golf showing once again it has the potential to match the intensity of any competition, without the negativity and snarl.
‘Until now, sergio was obviously the best player not to have won a major,’ Rose explained later. ‘There’s a handful of them, and any time one of those guys gets that monkey off his back, it makes a poignant major championship.
‘I hope it is remembered fondly. I hope it is a Masters that goes down in history. I would have liked to have been on the right side of it, but nevertheless, it’s good for sergio. He often feels he’s not supported the way he would like to be in America, and it was encouraging to see the crowd get behind him.
‘I think they realised he’d paid his dues, and had been close so many times and were pulling for him. It must be hard for guys who are striving to win majors, seeing their peers pick them off and being left behind. I was very pleased for him.’
And he sounded, it. Genuinely. As champions go, if it happens for him again, there will be none more popular than Justin Rose.
His fragility let us see the human within It was one of golf’s best ever finales