Sergio Garcia is Growing as a Golfer

A man’s got to admit when he is wrong so, painful as it is, here goes: Sergio Garcia is getting better. I once wrote that would never happen. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Garcia fan. Perhaps when he can refrain from childish behavior such as the spitting incident, and the ridiculous whining when explaining his losses, then I might like him better. But let’s skip the personality disorders and talk about the golf.

Yes, Garcia stumbled on the front nine of the final round to get caught by the field in last week’s Open Championship at tough Carnoustie, but then he found a way to right the ship - for a change - and played solid golf the rest of the way. So much so that he actually had a putt to win. And he made a really good stroke but misread that putt by the tiniest of margins. Speaking of putting, this new belly putter of his is ultimately what helped him the most. Over the entire 4 rounds there were only a few of those ugly strokes he had nearly copyrighted. For badgering him into using it, he should kiss Vijay Singh the next time he sees him.

Garcia played well in the playoff too but did make a poor decision on the first hole when from the right semi-rough, he took dead-aim at the flag which was tucked behind the bunker on the right side of the green. As this was a 4 hole playoff, that shot positively needed to go at the center of the green. The only place he could not afford to put it was in the damn bunker where balls were plugging in the wet sand! Definitely a mini-choke.

But here is where I think Garcia should re-think his strategy: put a fairway wood in the bag. Did anyone else notice that he never hit one? It appears he may have been overly influenced by the beating he took in Tiger Woods’ win at Hoylake last year while using irons exclusively off the tee. That was a great strategy last year when the fairways were more like runways. This year there was not much wind to speak of and unusually soft conditions all week. I know this much, eventual winner Padraig Harrington was wearing out his hybrid on Sunday, unconcerned about its higher ball flight than a similar long iron.

Garcia will take a lot of positives from this performance and soon will finally capture his first major championship, almost certainly before he turns 30 years old. Then we might finally see what all of that talent can really do.