Sure, Sergio Garcia is a mental midget in real clutch golf situations (Ryder Cups don’t qualify). And sure, Sergio shows less fashion sense then the average bum on your average San Francisco street corner. (All yellow outfit in the British Open final round, anyone?)

But you still cannot help but love Sergio Garcia.

No golfer carries greater word of mouth among average folks in the golf industry than Garcia. He has near Nelson Mandela goodwill. Talk to tournament officials or volunteers and inevitably Garcia’s name comes up as the polite, down-to-earth exception among the mega rich golfers.

Garcia drew more such praise in a recent trip I took to the Okanagan wine region of British Columbia.

In fact, the 81-year-old owner of Predator Ridge - a guy who’s traveled the golf globe and seen more of the game than most of us can ever hope - couldn’t stop talking about Garcia’s appearance there for the 2000 Skins Game.

“Sergio Garcia was something else,” the owner Herb Paterson said. “You can tell his parents raised him right.”

Paterson noted how Sergio actually brought both his parents along for the event. Which didn’t stop him from spreading even more goodwill.

“He’d rent a private plane and fly out into these little hamlets and fly fish in the morning,” Paterson said. “In the afternoons, he’d play golf. And at night, he’d take out our waitresses. Usually a different waitress every night.”

Sergio Garcia, you can’t help but root for him. And wish you had his life. Even as you know he’ll never come close to reaching his potential.

The man’s major at Ryders, nil in majors and dominant in politeness. Not so bad when you think about it.

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