Garcia wins first major title in Masters play-off

Sergio Garcia had long been his harshest critic, once saying he was not good enough to win a major, but on Sunday he buried decades of heartbreak and meltdowns by clinching a stirring win at the US Masters.

The Spaniard stamped himself as one of the game’s greats in remarkable fashion by overcoming some final round, back-nine adversity to claim his maiden major title in a playoff with friend and European Ryder Cup team mate Justin Rose.

“It’s been such a long time coming,” said Garcia, who missed a five-foot putt for the win at the end of regulation before rolling in a 12-foot birdie to claim victory on the first extra hole. “I felt today the calmest I ever felt on a major Sunday. “Even after making a couple bogeys I was still very positive and I still believed. I am so happy.”

Positive, happy and calm were not attributes one would normally have used to describe the 37-year-old Garcia on the golf course prior to this week.

Throughout his career, Garcia struggled to live up to lofty expectations laid upon his 19-year-old shoulders when he turned professional in 1999.

MAGIC AT LAST

Considered by many to likely become the primary rival of Tiger Woods, Garcia developed a reputation for struggling in the biggest moments. One of the most heartbreaking disappointments came in 2007 when his eight-foot par putt to win the British Open spun out of the cup and left him bent over in disbelief.

And while Garcia possessed the talent to put himself in the mix at golf’s premier events -- as his 22 top-10 finishes coming into this week attests -- his mental toughness was questioned.

After falling out of contention in the third round of the 2012 Masters, Garcia famously delivered a brutal self assessment in which he said did not have what it takes to win a major. “I don’t have the thing I need to have,” he said at the time. “I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to play for second or third place ... in any major.”

But the eve of this year’s first major, Garcia received an inspirational message from compatriot and boyhood idol Jose Maria Olazabal, a twice Masters winner, saying he believed in him, stay calm and do not get rattled like in the past.

HESH WAS RIGHT

“Leander should not have spoken when the tie was on. Mahesh did the right thing by speaking after the tie was over,” Chatterjee felt. The senior AITA official said he has seen the Whatsapp chat between Paes and Bhupathi and there effort now is to bring them together and sort out the issues. “I have also seen it and discussed it with Leander. I am going to sit and talk to both of them when I get time since they are both travelling.

“I do intend to bring them together. They will settle it out. They are mature people but the reactions they have given could have been much better,” he said.

Bhupathi, in his Facebook post, had said he has the backing of establishment in implement- ing his ideas as he strives to get the team back to World Group. Chatterjee endorsed the nonplaying captain’s view. “Well whatever he wants to do and whatever he has said, definitely he has been interacting with the federation and there is no doubt about that,” he said.

After Bhupathi claimed that personal agenda was not behind Paes’ exclusion, the latter issued a statement that he was never categorically told that he will not be in the playing four and that’s what he found disrespectful.

MEN’S TEAM IN ASIAN TABLE TENNIS FINAL

Veteran table tennis star Achanta Sharath Kamal led from the front as the Indian