SERGI-O MY!
Garcia tops Rose in Masters duel to finally win his elusive major
Sergio Garcia celebrates after birdieing the first playoff hole — No. 18 — to beat Justin Rose and win his first major title in his 74th try. Minutes earlier, the 37-year-old Spaniard missed a 5-foot putt that would have won the Green Jacket on the 72nd hole.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — He was a precocious teenager when we first met him all those years ago, when Sergio Garcia hopped and skipped down fairways while battling Tiger Woods before barely losing a PGA Championship.
He turned moody during his 20s, becoming a target of fans for his waggles and sour attitude. He complained the golf gods always were against him, never sending the good breaks his way. Then the Spaniard mellowed in his 30s, content with being a Ryder Cup hero and resigned to the fact he might never win a major championship. But all the baggage, all the past heartbreak and self-doubt didn’t mean a thing Sunday after a 15-footer for birdie on the first playoff hole rimmed around the left edge before falling in, giving Garcia his longawaited victory. He finally is a major champion, a Masters champion. Olé, olé, olé. At age, 37, Garcia came to his 19th Masters a new man — calmer, engaged to be married and not looking for demons in every corner. Yet, his final round on a sunsplashed Sunday was a microcosm of his often-tortured career. There was great hope in the beginning after sharing the 54-hole lead with England’s Justin Rose, followed by adversity early on the back nine and later heartbreak from a putter that cost him a victory in regulation. It looked like it might be Carnoustie 2007 again, where he missed a putt to win the British Open and lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington. But potential tragedy turned into triumph. Garcia made his winning birdie on the famed 18th green, launching a celebration that had to be felt all the way to Spain, and ended his streak of 73 majors without a win. “I don’t have to answer that anymore,” he said. Now we can fully embrace Garcia’s career instead of feeling sympathy for him. With his Ryder Cup success and now a major championship, he stands shoulder to shoulder with his countrymen, Jose Maria Olazabal and the late Seve Ballesteros, as Masters champions from Spain. “It’s unbelievable,” Garcia said before requesting his champion’s locker be next to Olazabal.
Olazabal had written notes of encouragement during the week.
“Believe in yourself,” one of them read. And the way things evolved, you get the feeling Ballesteros was doing what he could from above.
Truth is everything was pointing in Garcia’s favor this day. It would have been Ballesteros 60th birthday if he had not died of brain cancer in 2011. Garcia’s caddie was even wearing the No. 89, the same number Danny Willett’s caddie wore last year when he won the Masters and the same number Jack Nicklaus’ caddie wore when he won his sixth Masters in 1986. Even the dramatic eagle Garcia made at the par-5 15th on Sunday was the first there by a winner in the final round since Olazabal in 1994. The golf gods finally were smiling on Garcia.
“Today I felt a calmness I never felt at a major,” he said.
Yet, he wobbled entering the back nine while going toe to toe with Rose, suffering a bogey at the 10th and then again at the 11th. He looked in trouble again at the 13th, having to take a drop when his tee shot went too far left. But he made a magical save for par. And after birdies at 14 and 15, Garcia was fist pumping like a precocious teenager again.
Then his putter betrayed him, especially at the first 18th, where he missed a 5-footer even though he insisted: “I hit it exactly where I wanted.”
In the playoff, Garcia erased his baggage with a laser drive down the middle from the 18th tee and a perfect 8-iron to the green. He had two putts to win but only needed one.
“No one deserves it more than you,” Rose told him.
Ballesteros, who played a practice round with Garcia in 1999, probably was rooting Garcia on in Spanish with Arnold Palmer at his side, grinning ear to ear at the excitement exploding around Augusta National. Spain has a new Masters champion. Olé, olé, olé.