Opinion & Analysis
Garcia feels the sting of golf’s cruel side
Golf, cruel? Really?
Standing on the 17th tee Sunday afternoon at TPC Sawgrass with his second Players Championship trophy tantalizingly within reach, Sergio Garcia was in command of his own destiny.
Birdies on the Nos. 11, 13 and 16 launched Garcia into a share of the lead at 13-under with Tiger Woods. And earlier Sunday morning, Garcia actually hit the flagstick on No. 17 en route to a birdie as players finished third round play suspended the evening before because of darkness.
“That hole [No. 17] has been good to me for the most part,” Garcia said in his press conference afterwards.
Garcia won The Players Championship in 2008 on this hole. On this particular Sunday however, No. 17 would have its revenge on Garcia.
Mouthing the word “go” almost immediately after hitting his shot, Garcia’s ball splashed into the water and never reached the iconic island green.
“I just under-hit it a little bit,” Garcia said. “I felt with a little bit of adrenaline, I didn’t want to shoot over the green with a wedge. I needed to hit it a little bit harder and was maybe a little bit too confident.”
Garcia still had a slim chance of forcing a playoff with Woods if he could escape the 17th hole with a bogey, and card a birdie on No. 18 (which he did on Friday).
But reminiscent of the movie “Tin Cup,” Garcia curiously elected to re-hit again from the tee rather than hit from the drop area, unceremoniously sinking his second shot into the water as well — bouncing it off the front bunker ridge on way to a quadruple-bogey seven. Garcia’s excruciating collapse was completed when he also drove his tee shot into the water on No. 18 for a double-bogey, tumbling to a T-8 finish.
Fairly or unfairly Garcia’s collapse will again renew discussions about the mercurial Spaniard being a whiner and a choker.
On Saturday, Garcia called it “unfortunate” that Woods disrupted Garcia’s second shot from the par-5 second hole when Tiger took out a fairway wood from his bag causing the crowd around him to cheer loudly in the middle of Garcia’s swing.
Garcia implied it was intentional, while Woods countered he wasn’t surprised to learn of Garcia “complaining about something.” The bickering continued through to Sunday when Garcia said Woods “is not the nicest guy on tour.”
But this is a far cry from the days of Garcia bellyaching “the golf gods are against me,” or somberly moaning “I get no breaks.” This was simply Garcia expressing his opinion about a fellow competitor who he genuinely dislikes. And there’s nothing wrong with not liking someone you’re competing against.
Unlike most other sports, the Tour carries an image of its players all generally getting along and liking each other. But as someone in the media pointed out, there’s a difference between “respecting someone” and “liking them.”
And calling Garcia a choker because of what happened on No. 17 is equally going too far.
In total, 44 balls were hit in the water on the 17th hole over the weekend. In 2007, a record 93 balls got wet. Pete Dye’s island green is 130 some yards with a fairly large green, a shot on any other course that Tour professionals will hit consistently to a few yards round the clock.
But No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass is specifically designed to wreck havoc on even the best of players, particularly on the weekend when the pressure is jacked up. It happened to Jeff Maggert on Sunday who was also in position to win. It happened to Paul Goydos here in 2008.
Garcia didn’t blow a four-stroke or five-stroke lead. Garcia didn’t systematically collapse over the course of a tournament. He unraveled on a hole designed to create bad shots and cause chaos. Garcia played the best closer in the game, and No. 1 player in the world (who’s happened to close 52 of the last 56 when he has the 54-hole lead ) to a dead draw for 70 holes.
And making matters worse for Garcia, the crowd cheered wildly when Garcia’s first shot at No. 17 found the water, and even wilder when he did it again on his second shot. That would rattle just about anyone but the most resolute players on Tour, let alone someone like Garcia who feeds on emotion, albeit both to his benefit and detriment.
Garcia is and will remain one of the most polarizing players on Tour, and for good reason. But give credit where credit is due. Garcia played well, very well in fact. Just not well enough to win. And if you play the game long enough, the game will burn you, sometimes in the cruelest ways imaginable. Just ask Adam Scott, or Jim Furyk, and yes, even Tiger Woods.
This past Monday, I played in the U.S. Amateur local qualifier at Rock Creek Country Club in Portland, Oregon. A full tee sheet from 7:30 a.m. to 1:55 p.m., the top 11 scores would make it to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying.
I teed off at 10:48 a.m.. With the 7:30 am tee time, you can get a feel for the leaders’ pace, and they were off and running on the challenging setup at Rock Creek.
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Getting to the highlight of the round on the par five 17th, a drive up the left side and 212 yards left to the front hole location. I took out a 5-iron with plans of middle of the green. The ball ended up 8 feet left of the hole, pin high. A slight downhill putt dropped in for an eagle 3 on the 17th. With the cut line looking to be anywhere from -2 to even par. This was the boost I had been waiting for all day.
With making par from the trees on 18, it was time to wait for a potential playoff with a posted score of one under par 71.
Three hours later, it was playoff time. 8 players for 6 spots. I made par on the playoff hole, which was good enough to advance to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying in July. USGA qualifiers sure deliver on all of the emotions in golf!
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Mike
May 15, 2013 at 10:09 pm
There was once a great sports writer who wrote”MONEY WILL RUIN ALL SPORTS” it’s all come true!
From all major sports to the olympics and golf what next? Curling players signing multi million
dollar contracts! American greed no wonder TRW hates us. No morals all about the money welcome to
America!
brad
May 15, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Well Both marshals came forward in sports illustrated calling tiger out saying they didn’t say a word to him or he didn’t talk with them, so you can’t blame them
Steve
May 14, 2013 at 10:30 am
Someone should show Sergio the synched up video that shows he’s full of it. Tiger did nothing wrong and Sergio blew it in the end like normal. Even if the club was drawn right before Sergio’s swing, making the crowd to wild during the swing (DIDN’T HAPPEN!), it wasn’t Tiger’s fault. He couldn’t even see Sergio and didn’t start doing anything until the marshal told him Sergio hit. So, IF what Sergio claims is true, despite video showing otherwise, the blame would be on the marshal, not Tiger.
Svensson
May 14, 2013 at 3:53 am
Without having seen/heard the interview, I’m sure Garcia only replied to a question about whether or not he was disturbed by Tiger on the 2nd hole. Regardless, what the hell is wrong with the crowd? Tiger did nothing wrong in pulling a club out of the bag but if the crowd can not have the common decency to shut up when another player is swinging then they do not belong on or anywhere near a golf course.
Then cheering when he hits the ball into the water at 17? Twice? American golf fans are the worst.
Phil
May 15, 2013 at 11:25 am
“American golf fans”? Lucky you, you have our green-light to go somewhere else, more comfortable to you.
Mick
May 15, 2013 at 2:37 pm
Over here in Australia we enjoy the great golf televised from America and all over the world.Lately that enjoyment has been tainted by the disgusting unsportsmanlike antics of the spectators at some major tournaments and especially the Ryder Cup.Are these “people” fueled by alcohol or stupidity?
Blanco
May 14, 2013 at 3:12 am
Did the author watch the video of the Saturday “incident” where TGC synced up the camera views in real time? It shows everything you’d ever need to know… including the fact that while Sergio was in his routine… he was not ready to swing the club and even looked back towards the crowd noise before he hit. The man was looking for an excuse to be lame and succeeded. If anyone has the video please youtube.
CoryKorea
May 13, 2013 at 10:06 pm
Hard to feel all that sorry for a young, handsome Spanish millionaire who gets to spend his days golfing the most beautiful courses in the world.
Ryan Leaf
May 13, 2013 at 7:12 pm
Sergio Garcia is worse than Ryan Leaf!
BigG
May 14, 2013 at 9:22 am
Not quite as bad as Leaf. Srgio has not blown all his money.
[email protected]
May 13, 2013 at 7:05 pm
Reminds of Greg Norman, and contrasts so much with Tiger. TIger is a grinder, knows when to pick his spots to take risks and when not to. 17 at TPC is not the time to fire at the flag in a near-major – do what Tiger did and grind out the par, then win the tournament somewhere else.
Morrissey
May 13, 2013 at 6:26 pm
hey Pappas, your wrong, he choked and has a habit of doing it….mentally frail as we say.
J
May 13, 2013 at 6:07 pm
If I thought Tiger did that intentionally… Then as a grown man and a competitor… I would call him out in the worst way. Privately and publicly… This PC… Behind closed doors… Whiny… Emotional crud is out of hand. Speak the truth and be who you are.
Garcia is definately a whiner… But at least he is always a whiner.
I prefer an open book to a back room crybaby…. Which is what Tiger is.
Phil
May 15, 2013 at 11:22 am
You just sound like another Tiger hater… And if you did, what you claim you’d do, then you’d just be another Garcia.. A whiner!
yo!
May 13, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Garcia has made some bad career judgments … both with his mouth and with his club. I agree its poor sportsmanship, unintentional until proven otherwise, of what Tiger did. But complaining publicly is not the way to address it.
Tim
May 13, 2013 at 2:15 pm
It is unfortunate that Garcia complained publicly about Tiger. If he felt this was poor sportsman ship then take it up with Tiger privately. Going public, especially in Tiger’s back yard so to speak, was poor judgement. It will always come back to bite you in some way. Either you are labeled a whiner/complainer or just finding something/someone to blame when you under-perform. And let’s face, Garcia has under-performed his entire career. Better than many but worse than lesser players as well.