Sports

After poor 2013, Garcia in contention at TPC Sawgrass

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sergio Garcia is happy again.

What that translates to and how long it lasts, no one really knows for sure. But this much is certain: The emotional Spaniard is always fantastic theater.

Take Thursday’s opening round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass for example. One year removed from perhaps the most dramatic in a career full of meltdowns, Garcia played like he had amnesia — carding a 5-under-par 67 to stand four shots off Martin Kaymer’s lead at 9-under.

Russell Henley is two shots behind Kaymer, whose 63 tied the course record and included a record 29 on the front nine. Sang-Moon Bae is 6-under par, and Garcia is one of eight players at 5-under, including Jordan Spieth, Lee Westwood and Justin Rose.

A year ago at The Players, Garcia got into a public spat with Tiger Woods, whom he accused of poor etiquette while they were paired together, and then proceeded to rinse three balls in the water on the final two holes of the tournament. Garcia finished with a triple-bogey 6 on the 17th hole and a triple-bogey 7 on the 18th after being tied for the lead as he stood on the 17th tee.

Two weeks after that, Garcia shamed himself by making racially insensitive comments about Woods at a European Tour banquet, referring to inviting him over for “fried chicken.’’

A year later, with his steady girlfriend, Katharina Boehm, at his side, Garcia seems to have rehabilitated his tarnished image — projecting himself as a more grounded, mature and contented person. At 34, Garcia has had more rehabilitations than cats have lives.

No one knows that better than fellow Spaniard and good friend Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who has provided emotional support for him. Fernandez-Castano, who also shot 67 Thursday, has known Garcia since the two were 10-years-old in Spain when “he used to beat us by 10 shots every week.’’

“I think he’s happy overall,’’ Fernandez-Castano said. “He has a wonderful girlfriend and he loves what he does again, because not long ago he was a bit grumpy on the course and he never seemed to enjoy what he was doing.

“I remember I had a talk with him in Munich not that long ago, and I said, ‘Sergio, you do not have to do this if you don’t enjoy it. You’re a millionaire, you have a fantastic family, they’re all healthy, they love you, and you don’t have to play golf if you don’t have fun.’

“I know Sergio for a long time. I know how good he is, how talented he is, and he’s capable of anything.’’

Even winning a major, something Garcia famously claimed he was not capable of, ranting to Spanish reporters after a frustrating finish at the 2012 Masters?

“I think he’s going to win majors, even though he doesn’t believe he will,’’ Fernandez-Castano said. “That’s going to happen sooner than later. I think deep inside he knows he can. I think he wants one, and I think he will get it. He’s too talented not to do it.

“I think one day all of a sudden he’s going to find himself six shots clear with nine to go, and that’s going to be the one.’’

Garcia, who won the 2008 Players, now sounds like someone who thinks winning a major might actually happen for him.

Explaining that moment of public self-doubt at the Masters two years ago, Garcia called it “one of those moments where things [are] going on in your head and it just explodes and you feel like you have to say it.

“I think that when I’m on, I can definitely win anywhere,’’ he said. “I think I’ve proven that. It’s just a matter of getting that week where you feel good, where you feel comfortable, where things go your way, where everything feels relaxed, everything feels at ease, and you manage to do things the way you know how to do them.

“I’m still waiting for that particular week.’’