GARCIA FINALLY MASTERS MAJOR
Sergio Garcia overcomes a two-shot deficit with six holes to play and beats Justin Rose in a suddendeath playoff for his first major after nearly two decades of heartache
AUGUSTA, Ga.
Sergio Garcia was trying to channel Seve Ballesteros on what would have been his hero’s 60th birthday, but he probably didn’t want to channel him quite that much.
One of golf’s most tragically doomed figures over the past two decades survived a wild closing nine holes to finally seize the major title that has eluded him for so long with a Masters playoff win over Justin Rose.
It was a Ballesteros-style victory, complete with several visits into the Augusta National shrubbery, penalty strokes, choked putts — and just enough spectacular shotmaking.
The win wasn’t secured until Garcia gave up a healthy lead early, and then missed short birdie putts on the 16th and 18th holes, the latter of which would have handed him the tournament. He won, finally, on the first playoff hole with a birdie to Rose’s messy bogey.
“It’s been such a long time coming,” said Garcia, who first made his name as a 19-yearold in the PGA Championship who almost stared down Tiger Woods. That was almost 20 years ago. He has said this week that he has been trying to accept the breaks — good and bad — that happen in golf, in contrast to some of his woe-is-me reactions to past major struggles.
Garcia credited some of that inner calmness to a happy home life. He is engaged to be married to Angela Akins, a former college golfer, in July.
Garcia, trying to break a 73-major winless streak — the second-longest among active golfers — jumped out to a threeshot lead on Sunday only to give it all back and then some.
After dropping shots on the 10th and 11th holes to fall two shots behind Rose, Garcia pulled his drive on the par-5 13th into the left bushes. He took a penalty stroke for an unplayable lie, as Rose hit his second shot just over the green for what looked like an easy up-anddown birdie. But after a wedge and a steely par-saving putt from Garcia, Rose missed a six-foot birdie attempt.
Garcia, with 19 years worth of disappointment in the major championships behind him — literally if not figuratively — followed that with a birdie on the 14th and then a spectacular eagle on the 15th hole, dropping a 14-foot putt that just died into the centre of the cup. Rose followed that with a birdie of his own, and the two were tied at 9-under going to the 16th tee. Rose seized the lead with a birdie on the par-3 16th that Garcia couldn’t match, but the Englishman gave it back with a bogey on 17.
Sunday began with a number of players bunched behind the leaders, including Jordan Spieth, who had made Augusta National look alarmingly easy over the past few years, minus a couple of meltdowns, and Rickie Fowler, who has long looked ready to break into the major-winning club.
But in the early going, when the safe bet was that Garcia would crumple in the moment, he instead played like the guy with the least to prove. His biggest moment came on the seventh hole, where he went from the trees to the front bunker to above the hole — and coolly drained a downhill seven-footer to save par.
It was the kind of putt that had killed Garcia in the game’s biggest tournaments before, the kind of putt that explained why he had gone 73 majors without a win.