AUGUSTA, Ga. — Two high-profile players who often gravitate to major championship calamity did so in yesterday’s Masters second round.
Sergio Garcia, who seems to define the phrase “self-fulfilling prophecy,’’ struggled to a 4-over-par 76 after having a share of the lead entering the day with his first-round 66.
Garcia, of course, has complained about Augusta National and lamented his chance of ever winning a major in recent years. Even after his Thursday round, he conceded this is not his “favorite’’ course and he spoke about “enjoying’’ his success “while it lasts.’’
Dustin Johnson, who has had spectacular blowups at the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and the British Open in recent years, followed his opening-round 67 with a 76 thanks to a collapse on the back nine, where he shot 40.
Johnson led the tournament at 7-under par as he walked to the 14th tee. He bogeyed 14, doubled the par-5 15th when he hit a ball into Rae’s Creek, and doubled 18.
After his round, Johnson politely avoided reporters and said he would return to speak but never did.
Garcia, despite his disappointment, had the class to explain his tough day.
“I was trying to be as aggressive as I could, but things just didn’t want to happen,’’ he said. “The good thing is even with everything that went wrong, I felt like — other than a couple of holes — I hit the ball very nicely. I hit a lot of good shots. I hit some good putts that didn’t go in, and I’m still hopefully not too far away by day’s end. We’ll see what happens for the weekend.’’
Garcia called the windy weather conditions “much more difficult’’ than they were on Thursday.
“It was not only the strength [of the wind], because if it’s consistent you kind of figure it out, but unfortunately today it was very, very gusty,” he said. “There were some shots that you would hit well and it would make you look a little bit silly. Those things you can’t really control. But even though with everything that happened today, we still are in a decent position to hopefully do something on the weekend.’’