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SOUTHPORT, England—They are calling it the “Spanish
Summer” of sports in the British Isles, what with
Spain’s dramatic victory over Germany in the European
soccer championships last month and Rafael Nadal’s
stunning triumph over Roger Federer in arguably the
greatest men’s final in Wimbledon history two weeks ago,
a month after Nadal also beat Federer for the French
Open title.
Does
that mean this now is the time for Sergio Garcia,
Nadal’s good friend and countryman, to finally break
through for his first victory in a major golf
championship starting Thursday at the 137th British Open
at Royal Birkdale?
“I hope
so,” Garcia said Tuesday. “It would be great. But I know
what I have to do and hopefully it will be good enough.
If I manage to win here, it will be something. But it’s
not going to be easy.”
Where
would a Garcia victory in the oldest major of them all
rank in relation to soccer and tennis back home?
“Without
a question, the football [soccer],” Garcia said. “In
Spain football is the biggest.”
And
between Garcia and Nadal?
“Me.”
No one
ever has accused Garcia, 28, of a lack of modesty, or
confidence. The former “El Nińo” sounded much like the
grown man British bookmakers have installed as the
favorite to carry the Claret Jug back to his home town
of Castellon, where his father, Victor, a teaching
professional, still is his son’s main instructor.
“I feel
like my game is probably as good as it’s ever been,”
Garcia said. “I don’t feel complete, or completed, but I
feel like I’m getting closer. I feel good with my game.
I feel good with myself. I feel like I’m getting better
as a player every tournament I go around. I’m learning
more things about myself. I’ve just got to make sure
that I keep doing the right things and I keep on
believing in myself.
“The
most important thing for me is to give myself a chance
on Sunday. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn’t,
but at least be out there and feel like you have a
chance of winning.”
Garcia
has had multiple chances to win major championships,
particularly in the British Open. He has 13 top 10
finishes in majors, six of them in the British, his
favorite tournament. In 2006 he played in the final
group with Tiger Woods at Royal Liverpool, but shot
one-over-par 73 and tied for fifth.
Last
year at Carnoustie, he also was in the last group and
needed only to par the 18th hole to prevail in
regulation. Instead, his seemingly perfectly struck
eight-foot putt for par just missed on the right edge,
and he lost by a shot to Padraig Harrington in the
four-hole aggregate playoff.
Garcia
moaned that day about the golfing gods not being on his
side and how he had hit every shot in the playoff
exactly where he wanted. He was harshly criticized in
the media (and privately by some of his peers) for that
reaction, but he also insisted a year later that it did
not take him long to get over the most crushing loss of
his career.
“Obviously, Sunday night and Monday were a little
tough,” he said. “Other than that, you think about the
week, you think about everything you did, and you
realize that you did the best you could. I felt like I
hit a great putt in regulation to win the Open.
Unfortunately, it didn’t go in. In the playoff, I hit
some really good shots, some really good putts, and
unfortunately they didn’t drop. There’s nothing else you
can do.”
Harrington said Tuesday he knew that if he had blown the
Open after making a double bogey himself in regulation
at the 72nd hole, he would have faced many of the same
questions Garcia has had to deal with.
“I would
be aware myself of the twin impostors of success and
failure, how similar they are,” Harrington said. “Over
the years, I’ve done some great things and looked like
I’ve lost tournaments and I’ve won tournaments where
I’ve struggled home and won it. I realize the difference
between victory and defeat, and all players have to
manage that area of the game.
“When
you do win, you’re put up on a pedestal and everything
is great. When you don’t, it’s very easy to be cut down
at the knees. A player has to keep going through his
process, keep doing his thing and endeavor to play every
event the same, not necessarily focusing on the results.
The key is you’ve got to want to put yourself on the
line, put your neck out there. It couldn’t have been the
most enjoyable experience for Sergio last year, but I’m
sure he’d be very happy to be in the same situation
again this year and have another go at it. That’s the
difference between being a winner and forever not having
a chance.”
Garcia
has one big-time victory this season at the Players
Championship, the “fifth major,” when he prevailed in a
sudden-death playoff against Paul Goydos. It’s a victory
he said “obviously gives you a lot of confidence, and
I’ve been pretty good after that.”
“The
strength of the field, the difficulty of the course, it
really felt like a major,” he said. “The winning score
[five-under 283] was like a major. It’s obviously nice,
but it’s not the end. You’ve got to keep moving
forward.”
In his
four tournaments since that victory, Garcia has had two
top five finishes, including solo second in brutal
weather conditions at the European Open two weeks ago
outside London, when he shot 66 in the final round in
rain and 30-mph winds. Similar breezes were blowing at
Birkdale on Tuesday, and more dodgy weather is in the
long-range forecast over the four tournament days.
Garcia
said no matter the conditions, he always has adored
links-style golf ever since he first came to play in
these parts as a 12-year-old, when he also was the club
champion at his home course in Spain.
“I’ve
been fortunate to play a lot of links golf, and I love
it,” he said. “It’s different, and it brings in so many
parts of your game and they have to be on, with a lot of
imagination, which is always good when you get
challenged on the course.”
As for
the challenge of continuing this glorious Spanish Summer
on the seaside links of Royal Birkdale, Garcia said
“that would be great. Just trying to keep up with my
fellow countrymen.” |
