Sergio Garcia, the 2012 Wyndham Champion, has used Sedgefield Country Club as a springboard more than once in his career. The Donald Ross gem that hosts the Triad’s annual PGA tour stop is more than just another spot on the calendar for Sergio. It’s the place where it all started.
When Sergio’s birdie putt found the bottom of the cup on that glorious Sunday this past April, it marked the culmination of a life’s work. It was the coronation of a champion and the end of a sometimes agonizing journey. Sergio Garcia had won the Masters, and he would never be viewed the same again. Nearly 18 years after bursting onto the international golf scene at the PGA Championship at Medinah, Illinois, Sergio was finally a major championship winner.
HIS BIG DEBUT
The story begins in August 1999 when the exuberant Spaniard would duel Tiger Woods, the world’s best, and come up just short — but he would never walk in anonymity again. Four- teen months before at the Greensboro Open at Sedgefield, Sergio, then 18 years old, may have been anonymous in the golf world but he certainly wasn’t to the players on the Nike Tour (now Web.com Tour), the feeder route to
the PGA Tour. We had seen this kind of emergence a few years before when a skinny 20 year-old showed up in Milwaukee and said, “Hello, world.” Tiger ushered in a remarkable new era in golf. By 1998, he had broken records at the Masters, and it was obvious that the best was yet to come. So when the “next great player” arrived on our driving range, we were paying attention.
I remember thinking just how young Sergio looked that week at Sedgefield. But what we, the players, were most concerned about was his swing. Tiger had changed our approach to the game. For the first time in our lives, many of us went to the gym. We had our eyes opened. Sergio’s swing was lanky with a pronounced lag and down- cock of the wrists that was more old school than modern. He hit balls under the watchful eye of Victor, his father and lifelong swing coach. And Victor wasn’t letting anyone too close to his son in 1998.
Sergio would open that week with 72 on Thursday but come back with 67 on Friday to make the cut by a single shot. His 65 on Saturday was the low round of the day and put him in contention. A 68 on Sunday left Sergio in an unpaid, five-way tie for third. That last bit was fortunate for the other four of us that finished tied for third. Joe Ogilvie from Duke would go on to win that week, but it was Sergio’s debut in America that would be remembered.
A ROLLERCOASTER CAREER
After Sedgefield, Sergio won the British Amateur, which came with an invitation to the Masters the following year. At Augusta in 1999, Sergio would finish as low amateur and turn professional the next week. In July, he won the Irish Open shooting 64 in the final round for his first European Tour victory. That victory secured an invitation to the PGA Championship and a date with Tiger at Medinah.
The second-place finish for Sergio at the PGA Championship ensured that he would be the youngest player to compete on either Ryder Cup team. Sergio has represented Europe in every Ryder Cup with the exception of one, but more on that later. After 1999, his game progressed as anticipated. He would win on the PGA Tour for the first time at Colonial in 2001 and later that summer at Westchester.
Sergio would win six times over those next five years and add the Player’s Championship in 2008. Over that same period, he would win six more times on the European Tour. But as Sergio approached his 30th birthday, others were winning on golf’s biggest stage and Sergio was left wanting.
There were times when Sergio was his own worst enemy. He was almost too honest with the press about his frailties. In August 2008, Sergio would lose to Padraig Harrington at the PGA Championship in a heart breaker. Harrington had beaten Sergio the year before in a playoff at the Open Championship. By 2008, Sergio’s futility in the majors was becoming the stuff of lore.
Following the 2008 season, Sergio’s game fell into a precipitous decline. In 2009, he failed to win a tournament anywhere in the world for the first time in his career. The following year was no better and saw a major championship season go by without a Top-10 from Sergio, the first time in a decade that he had failed to contend in a major. That same year, Sergio failed to make the Ryder Cup team for the first time since 1999. Captain Colin Montgomery invited Sergio to be a vice-captain in hopes that it would inspire both the team and Sergio. It worked, at least for the team. Things started to turn around in 2011. He finished in the Top 10 at the US Open, where all eyes were on Rory McIlroy, who won by eight. Sergio would shoot 68 on Sunday at the British Open later that year to slip into the Top 10. Then in late 2011, he would find the winner’s circle again for the first time
in three years. He was the host of the Castello Masters, played at the golf course he grew up on when he finally won again. He would win the next week in Spain again at the Andalucia Masters, which this year Sergio will host at Valderrama.
It appeared that Sergio was back on the right track heading into the 2012 season. But golf is a hard game, and the demons that plague a golfer over time are rarely silent. At the Masters, Sergio was in contention after two rounds, but shot 75 on Saturday. After the round it was difficult to process what Sergio was saying. “I’m not good enough ... I don’t have the thing I need to have,” he began. “In 13 years I have come to the conclusion that I just need to play for second or third place.”
Obviously the exorcism of Sergio’s demons was incomplete. His maturity incomplete as well. We had watched him grow from boy to man on the golf course, but there was still much to learn.
SEGEFIELD CHANGES EVERYTHING
The rest of 2012 was less than stellar. Coming into the Wyndham Champion- ship at Sedgefield, Sergio was 102 in FedEx Cup Points and his focus was in question. He employed a caddie from Eagle Point that was arranged by the tournament committee. But being back at Sedgefield reminded Sergio of the 18-year-old boy who had visited more than a decade before. Seeking his first PGA Tour victory in more than four years, Sergio would have to wait until Monday to get his final shot. Rain halted the final round while the leaders were still on the front nine on Sunday.
But Sergio would post a final round 66 — good enough to bring him back to the winner’s circle. He would take the momentum of his Greensboro victory and parlay it into a trip to the Tour Championship and then on to the Ryder Cup. Fittingly, Sergio was part of the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history that year. His crucial victory over Jim Furyk in the singles was a critical point for the Europeans, who overcame a six-point deficit on the final day. Serendipitously, that feat occurred at Medinah, where Sergio made his first mark in 1999.
Golf fans have enjoyed nearly two decades of Sergio Garcia. Or should I say, golf fans have had a love/hate relationship with Sergio over the years. He was at times polarizing. We have seen him grow from an incredibly talented boy to an international star. He has endured controversy and criticism and yet at times there has never been anyone as hard on Sergio Garcia as Sergio himself. When Tiger called him a “whiner,” Sergio’s reply was that Tiger was finally telling the truth. But with Sergio, it seems that all of those negatives have over time transformed to a positive.
The lifelong bachelor has turned a corner both personally and professionally. He will marry this year. And he is now a major champion. At 37 years old, Sergio’s journey is far from complete.
John Maginnes is a former PGA player and hosts the popular Katrek & Maginnes On Tap broadcast on the PGA Tour Satellite Radio Network.