SERGIO SURGE FOR GLORY
Sublime Garcia has Seve tribute in his sights
It would be too perfect, wouldn’t it? Sergio Garcia ending all the years of agony at the majors by winning the 81st Masters tomorrow on what would have been Severiano Ballesteros’s 60th birthday.
Sergio becoming the first Spaniard to win a major this century at the place where he had his own personal meltdown in 2013.
‘I don’t think I will ever win a major,’ he said back then, after yet another crushing disappointment. ‘I’m too hyper and you need to stay calm. Obviously this is not my favourite place but, you know, you try to enjoy it as much as you can.’
He is certainly enjoying it so far, but then he’s a different man these days since meeting his future wife, Angela Akins.
Now 37, Garcia followed up being the only man on day one to avoid a bogey with a wonderful 69 yesterday for a four-under-par total of 140. He was tied for the lead with American Charley Hoffman.
the pair have a two-shot advantage over unsung American Bill McGirt, playing in his first Masters at the age of 37 and revelling in the experience.
One shot further off the lead is the amazing Spanish rookie Jon Rahm, who will try to emulate Seve’s achievement and win a major at the age of 22.
Rory McIlroy was five behind on one over par.
the Northern Irishman had an awful piece of luck at the last, where his iron approach struck the flagstick and bounced 30 yards away to turn a tap-in birdie into a bogey.
But, with the weather supposedly about to turn Rory-perfect with little wind and blue skies, the Northern Irishman is still handily placed. Garcia is playing in his 19th Masters and admitted it had been a long journey before he felt comfortable at Augusta.
‘For me, this is a course where I’ve had to make my peace and this the best I have ever played over the first 36 holes,’ he said.
Only at Amen Corner did he threaten to unravel.
A spectacular bunker shot at the 12th lipped out wickedly and then he bogeyed the par-five 13th from no distance.
Perhaps that double whammy would have unhinged him in the past but here he then birdied the 15th and the 17th to catch Hoffman.
Asked what it would be like to have a chance to win on Seve’s birthday, Garcia said: ‘Hopefully I will have that problem but I can’t get ahead of myself. I wouldn’t want to think about it, to be honest. It would be too emotional.’
Let’s hope the dribbling threefoot putt at the last for birdie which didn’t even touch the hole wasn’t evidence of the demons coming out to play.
His scoring average for the third round — look away now, Garcia fans — is a dreadful 75. Anyone know the Spanish word for exorcism?
It must have helped playing two rounds with Lee Westwood, who certainly knows how he feels when trying to close the deal in majors. Westwood holds the record for majors played without a win at 75, with Garcia on 73.
Garcia has had a record 12 topfive finishes, with Westwood second on 11.
For the vast majority of their 36 holes the pair seemed to be drawing comfort from one another as they walked these perilous fairways stride for stride.
But a poor finish for Westwood, with four bogeys in his last five holes, meant a 77 and he is now seven behind.
After winning the Dubai Desert Classic in February, Garcia talked about the calming influence of Akins.
‘I’m not going to lie to you, when things are going well off the golf course it’s so much easier to feel comfortable on it,’ he told Sportsmail.
‘I’m excited about a lot of things coming up. I’m excited that I’m getting married in July and I’m excited about the Masters.’
Now he has the chance to emulate the achievement of Danny Willett, who followed up a win in Dubai last year by claiming the green jacket.
Speaking of the defending champion, he couldn’t recover from his hateful eight at the first and shot 78.
to think, if he had managed two pars at the first hole over the first two days, he would be five shots off the lead.
As for Hoffman, what must it have been like for him having to go straight out yesterday morning after opening with a 65 and perhaps the finest first round in Masters history.
He must have felt like savouring it for a few days.
the 40-year-old actually started well at one under for the first five holes but his first mistake at the sixth heralded a dreadful run of five bogeys in six holes before he steadied the ship, playing the last six in one under.
‘I didn’t play that badly and I’ve got to be delighted with my position at the halfway stage,’ he said. ‘All you ask for going into the weekend is to give yourself a chance of winning the green jacket.’
The only other player to break 70 on day one has also given himself every chance.
McGirt got into this event by winning Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament last year and got up early to watch the great man and Gary Player at the opening ceremony on Thursday.
Nicklaus spotted him as he made his way back into the clubhouse. ‘If you can win my tournament, you can win this event,’ Nicklaus told him.
McGirt has carried that ego boost with him through the first 36 holes.
‘It’s going to be pretty cool playing late in the third round in your first appearance at the Masters,’ he said.
Rahm echoed those thoughts and he will give Spain a second chance to mark such a special Sunday in the most appropriate manner imaginable.
The great sadness, of course, is that Seve won’t be around to watch it, for how proud he would have been.