GARCIA RELISHES RETURN
Spaniard back as team player after 2010 stint as vice captain
MEDINAH, ILL. Like the foul weather that was spewing chilling rain on Celtic Manor in Wales before the opening tee shot of the 2010 Ryder Cup, Sergio Garcia’s regard for golf was downright gloomy.
Having lost his spark and desire to play that season, his game had fallen so far that he didn’t qualify for the European team and he wasn’t one of captain Colin Montgomerie’s two atlarge picks. But Garcia’s passion for the biennial tussle between Europe and the USA was unwavering, so there he was standing in the pouring rain near the first tee as a vice captain.
“It was great, but at the same time it was hard,” Garcia said. “You can only do so much as a vice captain. It was nice to be there and be a vice captain, but it was difficult not being able to do more for the team.”
That problem doesn’t confront the Spaniard this week as he turned his game around with two wins on the European Tour late last year and a win in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in August that locked up his spot on the European team for this week’s matches at Medinah Country Club.
It will be Garcia’s sixth Ryder Cup, and his zeal and 14-6-4 record is a welcome addition for Europe. As is his antagonizing nature as a thorn in the side of the red, white and blue.
“It’s great to be back on the Ryder Cup team,” said Garcia, who was routed 5-and-4 by Anthony Kim in singles in the 2008 Ryder Cup, his last time out. “It’s been four years since I last played, and it feels like it’s been 10 or 12 years. I’m very excited about it, obviously. You know how much the Ryder Cup means to me.
“It’s easy to guess what it means to me.”
Try everything. It has been since the first Ryder Cup he saw in person when he was 15 and playing in the Junior Ryder Cup in 1995.
“I remember the Wednesday, we went to the course, all of us juniors, and I said hi to Seve (Ballesteros) as he was practicing on the 12th hole,” Garcia said. “I took a picture there. It was awesome to be there with him and the other players there. And when I saw the way the crowds . . . the energy the crowds give in that tournament, both the Americans and the Europeans, it was just a moment for me where there was no turning back.”
He’s been a stalwart since his first in 1999, where at 19 he became the youngest player in the history of the Ryder Cup and won 3½ points.
Just as he was a month before in the PGA Championship at Medinah when Garcia’s scissor kicks cut a path into
“It’s been four years since I last played, and it feels like it’s been 10 or 12 years. I’m very excited about it, obviously. You know how much the Ryder Cup means to me.”
Sergio Garcia
the hearts and minds of fans as he nearly chased down Tiger Woods for the title, Garcia was a whirlwind of emotion as Europe was en route to an upset win at The Country Club near Boston before the USA pulled off an unprecedented comeback in singles.
“It’s great to have Sergio back on the team. It was a huge disappointment for him two years ago, but it showed what the Ryder Cup means to him when he showed up as an assistant captain,” said Luke Donald, who is 4-0 in foursomes when teamed with Garcia. “He brings a lot of enthusiasm and passion to the team. He’s just upbeat and energetic and lively. He’s not going to let you get down on yourself.
“At times in his career, he’s needed that himself. But he really has that in abundance at the Ryder Cup.”
European captain Jose Maria Olazabal, who also was a vice captain in 2010, saw how down Garcia was in Wales. Olazabal said it was a learning experience for his fellow countryman.
“I know that he’s really happy and pleased and relieved to be on the team as a player, because last time at Celtic Manor, he didn’t hit a single shot, and I think that made him realize how important it is to be a player on the team,” Olazabal said. “I remember his words when we were having a little chat. He said, ‘If I knew this, I wouldn’t have come,’ in the sense that he wanted to be playing.
“This golf course has wonderful memories for him. He feels comfortable on this golf course. So hopefully that will help him to perform well this week.”
Graeme McDowell’s first Ryder Cup was in 2008. He quickly saw what Garcia meant to the team, especially when Garcia and Lee Westwood, who had built up a 4-1-2 record as partners, were benched and then broken up as a team.
“It was a surreal feeling having them watching me Saturday morning. It was sort of a kick in the gut to the team to see those two great players sitting out a session,” McDowell said. “Sergio’s such a great player. He’ll be great in the team room. That Spanish flair, that Spanish emotion, he’s going to be huge for us to have him back on the team.”