Garcia primed to end drought in majors
Thomas Bjorn, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain for the 2018 matches, said earlier this week only “a fool” would write off Lee Westwood to win the Masters. Call me a fool. Bjorn did not say the same for Sergio Garcia, who has a record in major championships nearly as futile as Westwood. If he had ... Call me a fool. Westwood and Garcia are possessors of the worst major-championship records in golf. Westwood is 0 for 75. Garcia is 0 for 73. No active player in the world has appeared in more majors without a victory than two of Europe’s top players.
While Westwood went in the wrong direction Friday, shooting 77, Garcia made it appear that maybe, just maybe, he is ready to win a major championship.
He tied for the third lowest round of the day — a 3under 69 — and is tied for the 36-hole lead with three other players who have never won a major. He has made only three bogeys in two windwhipped days — all in the second round — tied with Ryan Moore for fewest after 36 holes. Could it finally happen? Could Garcia stay in contention and finally win a major that was predicted for him since he was a teenager chasing Tiger Woods with scissor-kicks down the fairway?
Hey, the Chicago Cubs ended a 108-year drought last year when they won the World Series. I’m not biting. Until he shows he can win a stare-down on the weekend at a major, Garcia will forever be remembered as the player who once admitted he’s not good enough to win a major. He made that surprising statement at the 2012 Masters when he began the third round in third place then went out and shot 75.
A year later, Garcia came back to Augusta and opened with a 66, the only time he has ever the lead at the Masters. And there he was Friday, going to whip right out of the starting gate with birdies on his first three holes and finishing the round with two more on the final four holes.
“I got a couple nice breaks, so things are happening at the moment,” Garcia said. “So I want to make sure that I keep riding that wave and go out there [Saturday], be positive, be like I’ve been the first two days.
“There were a couple moments out there where I could have lost it a little bit. On 13, I hit a beautiful drive and a beautiful second shot straight over the flag and I made six. So you’ve just got to realize that those things are going to happen, and if you manage to do that, then you can come out here and compete and have a chance.”
Since he first burst on to the American scene as a 19year-old trying to chase down Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship, Garcia has won 30 times around the world, including nine times on the PGA Tour. His most significant victory came in the 2008 Players Championship and his record in eight Ryder Cups (19-11-7) is among Europe’s best.
But he has come up empty-handed in major championships. In 73 starts, Garcia has 22 top-10 finishes, including 12 in the top five and four as runner-up. The closest he has come to winning is when he lost a playoff to Padraig Harrington in the 2007 British Open, a defeat in which Garcia famously blamed the golf gods for conspiring against him.
“I think that I’m a little bit calmer now,” Garcia said. “I think that I’m working on trying to accept things, which can happen here and can happen anywhere. It’s part of golf. It’s not easy. It’s much easier to say than to do it. But that’s the challenge we always have, you know, making sure that you accept the bad moments or the bad breaks with the good ones, and kind of move on.”
Garcia is scheduled to get married this year to Angela Akins, a former golfer at the University of Texas who worked for the Golf Channel. He said that has helped with his new-found approach.
“I think that I’m trying to change a little bit on that aspect, on accepting things,” Garcia said. “Sometimes things are going to go great and sometimes they are not going to go so great. So I still have to get so much better at it.”
We shall see.