AT LONG FIRST
Garcia Finally wins major on try No. 74 after epic duel with Rose
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Until it finally happened — until it was official and no one could ever take it away from him — you just didn’t know about Sergio Garcia ever winning a major championship. How could you? He had played in 73 major championships and never won one. Along the way, he lost some heartbreakers, and he often lost his composure. It all led to doubts — both from those who follow him and from Garcia himself — he ever would be able to summon the strength to close one of these things out.
Five years ago, after yet another disappointing Masters finish, Garcia left us to believe he never would win a major because he said as much, conceding he felt like he simply didn’t have it in him.
He also excoriated Augusta National as a golf course he had grown to detest more than he does losing to the Americans in the Ryder Cup.
And yet, there was Garcia in Sunday’s final round of the 81st Masters, putting an end to all the doubt and all the pent-up frustration, winning at the place he had grown to loathe.
Sergio Garcia, at age 37, is a major championship winner at last. He’s the 2017 Masters champion, overcoming years of baggage, doubt, jangled nerves and ultimately Justin Rose on the first playoff hole Sunday, a birdie on 18 the difference.
“It’s been such a long time coming,” an emotional Garcia said. “There’s always uncertainty. But today, I felt a calmness I’ve never felt in a major championship Sunday.”
There were signs all week that told you this might be a different tournament for Garcia, that this one would be special.
There was a poignant Wednesday night text message from fellow Spaniard and two-time Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal imploring him to believe in himself that buoyed Garcia’s psyche.
There was the ball he hit on the 13th hole Saturday that somehow defied gravity and clung to the steep greenside bank instead of tumbling back into Rae’s Creek. He converted what would have been an almost-certain bogey into a birdie. A lucky break for Garcia, who has spent most of his career lamenting all the bad breaks he has endured.
Then there was No. 13 on Sunday, when Garcia pulled his drive into the azaleas to the left of the fairway into an unplayable lie, forcing him to take a drop and penalty shot. He already was two shots behind Rose, his chances to win on life support.
But Garcia somehow saved par with a punch shot from the pine needles to the fairway, a wedge onto the green and one putt, while Rose missed a 5-foot birdie putt that could have given him a three-shot lead.
Then there was Garcia carding an eagle on the par-5 15th hole to tie Rose at 9-under. Guess who the last Masters champion to make eagle on No. 15 en route to victory was? You got it: Olazabal in 1994.
Good omens everywhere for a change for Garcia, who has spent his life playing the victim.
And finally there was this: Sunday would have been the 60th birthday of Seve Ballesteros, Garcia’s lifelong idol.
The ending was awkward, and it provided a perfect canvas for Garcia to end his major championship drought. His weakness always has been his putting, and he failed to win the tournament on the 18th hole in regulation, missing a 5-foot putt for the victory, leaving it right all the way, the ball never even grazing the cup.
His miss on 18 Sunday sent Garcia and Rose back to the 18th tee for the playoff hole that Gar- cia won thanks to Rose hitting his drive into the trees.
Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open winner and a friend of Garcia’s, understandably was gutted afterward but was gracious in defeat.
“If there was anyone to lose to, it would be Sergio,” he said. “He’s had his fair share of heartbreak. It’s nice for him now to have that monkey off his back, and I was very pleased for him.”
To illustrate how far gone Garcia’s belief had gotten, these were his words after the 2012 Masters when asked if he thought he ever would win a major: “I’m not good enough. I don’t have the thing I need to have. I had my chances and opportunities and I wasted them. I have no more options. I wasted my options.”
Asked if he meant this only about the Masters, Garcia said, “In any major.”
Sunday was not easy and often not artistic — and who thought it would be for him? — but Garcia finally did what so many of us thought he never would do. Sergio Garcia finally is a major championship winner, a Masters champion. It has a nice, deserving ring to it.