TEE & EASY: Sergio Garcia watches his tee shot on No. 11 during the first round of the Masters. Garcia, who has ripped the course and his chances of ever winning there, birdied five of the first 10 holes and finished tied for the first-round lead with a 6-under-par 66. (
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AUGUSTA, Ga. — The golf gods that patrol Augusta National this time of year work in beautifully mysterious ways.
Fascinating storylines always seem to bloom like the azaleas — just in time for the CBS camera lights to come on for the Masters.
That said, what better storyline to emerge out of Thursday’s opening round than Sergio Garcia — a player with a very public love-hate relationship with the Masters, Augusta National and his own prospects of winning his first career major — leading the tournament?
As Garcia was deftly maneuvering his way to the top of the leaderboard in yesterday’s first round — finishing with a sterling 6-under-par 66 — memories of some emotional rants he has delivered on these grounds immediately leaped to mind.
After his tie for 38th at the 2009 Masters, these were Garcia’s inflammatory words about the hallowed grounds of Augusta National on his way off the premises:
“I don’t like it, to tell you the truth. I don’t think it’s fair. It’s too tricky. It’s too much of a guessing game. They can do whatever they want. It’s not my problem. I just come here and play and then go home.”
Garcia quickly apologized, but the damage was done — from the hurt feelings of the members clad in their green jackets to the sabotaging of his own fragile psyche.
Three years later, last April, these were Garcia’s words to several Spanish reporters after his tie for 12th when asked about his chances of ever breaking through to win his first major championship:
“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. I’m not good enough. I had my chances and opportunities and I wasted them. I have no more options. I wasted my options.”
The rants were all so disturbing coming from the same player, who at the exuberant age of 19, looked as if he was going to be nipping at Tiger Woods’ heels for two decades.
Garcia is 33 now and is 14 years removed from that refreshingly cool moment at Medinah in the 1999 PGA Championship when he finished second by one shot to Woods despite that miraculous shot from the base of that tree.
Much scar tissue has built up since then, including two near-miss losses to Padraig Harrington at the 2007 British Open and 2008 PGA Championship.
Garcia has 17 top-10 finishes in majors, with his best showing in the Masters a tie for fourth in 2004. He once reached No. 2 in the world rankings and has been a Ryder Cup hero for Europe.
Even after yesterday’s round, he hardly sounded like a player expecting to keep the fire burning through Sunday and have that coveted green jacket slipped over his shoulders.
“It’s obviously not my most favorite place, but we try to enjoy as much as we can every time we come here,’’ Garcia said yesterday. “Sometimes it comes out better than others, but today was one of those good days, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts.
“I played extremely well the first 10 holes [he was 5-under]. … Without a doubt, it’s the best 10 holes I’ve played at the Masters. Hopefully I’ll have three more of those [rounds] and we’ll see what happens on Sunday night.’’
Heaven forbid another Garcia collapse between now and then. Who knows what might come out of his mouth then?
“We go through tough moments, frustrating moments, and that was one of them,’’ Garcia said of his diatribe a year ago.
Here’s hoping he doesn’t have more of them before the end of this weekend, because a Garcia Masters win, or any major victory at all, is nothing but good for golf.