Here are 20 things that you may not know about the 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia, one of his generation's greatest players
20 Things You Didn’t Know About Sergio Garcia
1) He was born in Borriol, Spain, near Castellon de la Plana which is just north of Valencia.
2) He used to occasionally turn out for Borriol FC, his hometown club, where he was formerly club president.
3) His father, Victor, a club pro, began teaching him the game at the age of 3 at the local Club de Campo del Mediterraneo.
4) He won his club championship at the age of 12.
5) He was low amateur at the 1999 Masters, and is just the fifth Masters low amateur to go on to win the Green Jacket (Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods are the others).
Related: Who Is Sergio Garcia’s Caddie?
Garcia is good friends with Rafael Nadal. Here they are playing in a pro-am back in 2011 (Getty Images)
6) Despite born in the Valencian community, Garcia is a huge Real Madrid fan.
7) He resides in Crans Montana, Switzerland – Where the Omega European Masters is played at Crans-Sur-Sierre Golf Club.
8) Garcia has made 10 Ryder Cup appearances and became the match’s all-time point scorer in 2018 after reaching 25.5 points, overtaking Nick Faldo.
9) Prior to winning The Masters, he had 22 top 10 finishes in Majors without tasting success.
10) In July 2017 he got married to Angela Akins, a Texan journalist who works for the Golf Channel. She reportedly plays off 3. They have two children together called Azalea and Enzo.
11) He is just the third Spaniard to win a Major after Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.
12) He once said he is not good enough to win a Major. At the 2012 Masters, after a third round of 75 he told the Spanish media: “I’m not good enough. I don’t have the thing I need to have. In 13 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to play for second or third place.”
Sergio Garcia claimed his first Major at Augusta in 2017 (Getty Images)
13) As well as golf and football, he is a keen poker player, having competed in PokerStars tournaments. In 2012 he won $35,000 in a tournament.
14) He is a keen tennis player and is good friends with 20-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal. He also plays a lot of tennis and golf with former tennis player Andy Roddick as they both in Texas often.
15) He is the third-youngest player to make the cut in a European Tour event at 15 years and 46 days. That was at the 1995 Turespana Open Mediterrania.
16) He won the Amateur Championship in 1998 at Muirfield.
17) He is the youngest player to have played in a Ryder Cup, having made his debut at Brookline in 1999 at the age of 19 years, 258 days.
18) At the age of 20 years, 7 days, he became the youngest golfer to reach the top-10 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
19) He has spend 18 weeks as No.2 in the Official World Golf Ranking without ever reaching the top spot.
20) Garcia has been sponsored by adidas for his entire professional career, dating back more than 20 years.
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