The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Garcia feels the love of British fan club
St Andrews crowds can play a part in helping Spaniard to challenge
Seve Ballesteros probably didn’t need the unqualified adoration of British golf galleries to thrive.
The hostility of a Ryder Cup in America was as conducive to Ballesteros’s brilliance as the warmth of an Open at an English or Scottish links.
The sight of crowds scurrying to get the best vantage point for the next incredible recovery shot, or the roar from a greenside grandstand as a crucial putt dropped on the ball’s last turn, have added colour to the legend.
But Seve wouldn’t have been Openless or major-less if he had been unloved.
If his fellow countrymen, Sergio Garcia, is to win a major you suspect he might require a bit of help from his British friends.
They’ll certainly do their bit this week. And Garcia, who has cast off the despondency of a few years ago that led him to the infamous quote that he didn’t have it in him to win one of the big four championships, feels he can do his.
“I’ve always been very thankful for the way the British crowds have treated me,” he said.
“They have always been amazing. Even before I turned pro as a British Boys and British Amateur champion they have always encouraged me.
“They’ve always carried me in the palm of their hand. I don’t know what I did but I’m glad I did it and that’s one of the reasons why I love the Open so much.
“To come here and win the Open would be extremely special as it’s St Andrews – the home of golf – and remembering what Seve did here would make it an even more amazing experience.
“The challenge is to give myself a chance, as I did last year when I played well to give myself a possibility of winning.”
Garcia added: “I didn’t watch it live, but I’ve seen replays of Seve in 1984 and it’s great watching him throwing punches this way and that way. It is special. It is just amazing.
“I’ve always said that this is the best championship we have in golf, no doubt about it, for everything it means and everything it stands for.
“It would be amazing to win it. Put it this way, if I could stand here and say I could only win one tournament for the rest of my life, I would obviously choose the Open.
“In the back of my mind, I do believe I’m going to win this event at some point. But nothing is for sure.
“I can have an accident tomorrow and never play in another Open. I really feel as though I have an Open win in me based on the history I have with this event and things I’ve been able to achieve in the past on this type of course. But…I don’t have a crystal ball.”
Garcia is steeped in links tradition but he doesn’t have as extensive Old Course experience as you would imagine for a player who was flying over from Spain as a young teenager.
He recalled: “I always loved playing British Boys, British Youths and British Amateur on these type of courses in front of these crowds. I think I was 13 when I first played in the British Boys and I’ve always felt comfortable.
“But I actually first played St Andrews in ’99. I never played it as an amateur. I remember coming with the Spanish national team but we just walked around some of the holes. The first time I played it was in the 1999 Dunhill Cup when we won it – that was good fun.
“It is amazing when you stand on the first tee. It is nice that is so wide! It makes it a little bit easier.
“We play St Andrews every five years and that makes it more special because you never know when it is going to be your last Open here.
“You don’t know if your game is going to be good enough to get you back five years later.
“You don’t know if your health is going to be good enough. Every time you come here you want to suck it all in, just in case.”
At the last St Andrews Open, Sam Torrance described Garcia’s body language as portraying a man who didn’t want to be on a golf course.
But even at his lowest ebb, with his game and love life in pieces, he insisted that an Open challenge still inspired him.
“2010 was tough for me mentally,” he recalled. “But the one tournament I wanted to be at that year was the Open.
“Fortunately, I think that we all learn from our experiences in our life.
“It’s about learning to be both a better golfer and a better person.”