Oh, Sergio! How Masters winner García proved me wrong after all these years | Scott Murray

Apr 10, 2017

After 73 failed attempts to win a major the Spaniard finally came good at Augusta National having seemingly thrown his challenge away once again

On reflection it was wrong to say we had been waiting for this since 1999. It was not a thing in 1999 at all. When the precocious 19-year-old charmer Sergio García announced himself by manufacturing a six iron to the green from behind a tree at that year’s US PGA Championship, sprinting up the fairway after it, then running Tiger Woods close in a near-miracle at Medinah, it was simply assumed he would go on insouciantly to gather up armfuls of major titles – just like Tiger. But it did not work out like that.

Since then Todd Hamilton, Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, Geoff Ogilvy, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink, Webb Simpson, Trevor Immelman and Mike Weir have won majors – fine players but none possessing the innate flair of Sergio. Ah well, the nature of golf. But no wonder García at one point mentally gave up the ghost, publicly declaring he did not possess the moxie to get the job done.

Tags: European Tour Golf Masters 2017 PGA Tour Sergio García Sport The Masters US sports