LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Eighteen questions into Wednesday’s PGA Championship pre-tournament press conference with Sergio Garcia, this question was posed:
“Curious, have you ever seen a psychiatrist? And if you haven’t, has anyone ever tried to talk you into it?’’
“Should I?’’ Garcia answered with a laugh.
With the amount of disappointment and despair the emotional Spaniard has endured in some of the biggest tournaments on the world stage, what initially seemed like a curious question was actually a quite fair question.
If you have followed Garcia’s roller-coaster career, you know he has some tortured soul in him. He’s seen his share of demons while chasing that elusive first career major championship to no avail.
This week’s PGA at Valhalla is the 64th major championship for Garcia. Among active players, only Lee Westwood, who’s playing in his 67th major, has played in more majors without winning one. Garcia has finished runner-up an agonizing four times, including most recently at the British Open last month at Hoylake. He has 19 top-10 finishes, including 10 in the top 5.
Garcia has been haunted by his own play at crunch time, by so-called “other forces’’ as he once put it and even by a man raking a bunker on the 18th hole at Carnoustie in 2007.
Garcia’s moods famously change with the weather. He’s been both a petulant loser and a gracious loser. A year ago he made a ridiculous comment about Tiger Woods and fried chicken, something he apologized profusely for, and then later blamed Woods for intentionally distracting him while they were playing together at the Players Championship.
Garcia has been a lot of things, but he’s always been colorful and good for the game.
And right now, as the PGA Championship begins Thursday, there are few playing better golf than Garcia, who’s ranked No. 3 in the world. Actually, there is only one who’s playing better and that is Rory McIlroy, who has steamrolled his way to No. 1 in the world and appears on the verge of dominating the sport.
Garcia, the lovable loser, is coming off consecutive runner-up finishes in each of his last three PGA Tour starts, including last week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Normally, that would be perfect fodder for Garcia to spiral into one of his woe-is-me diatribes, explaining how he deserves better (which he probably does this time).
But not Wednesday.
Garcia appeared as comfortable in his skin as ever, insisting he’s trying to “look at the positive side’’ of the way he’s playing now despite not having gotten a win out of his great play.
Still, though, you have to wonder if Garcia has the guile and internal toughness to close out a major championship. Last week at the Bridgestone, he was clearly the best player in the field for the first three rounds, taking a three-shot lead over McIlroy entering the final round.
But did anyone have any doubt that McIlroy was going to swallow up that Garcia lead and hoist the trophy at the end of the day?
Garcia’s three-shot lead had turned into a one-shot McIlroy lead by the time they played the fourth hole together. And from there, McIlroy cruised to victory, leaving Garcia a bridesmaid once again.
“Obviously, finishing second is not the greatest but, you know, the only guy that loses is the one that has a chance of winning,’’ Garcia said. “I’d rather finish second and lose than be 50th and not have a chance. I didn’t feel like I gave it away [at the Bridgestone]. I still fought hard. On the back nine, I still had a chance.’’
Garcia, because he’s one of the most talented players in the game, always has a chance.
The question is whether he ever will be a finisher at a major? Or will he be a modern-day Colin Montgomerie, who dominated the European Tour and was a Ryder Cup stud but melted faster than soft-serve ice cream on a 90-degree day when he had a sniff at winning major championships.
Garcia is still young at 34, but you wonder if the built-up scar tissue from the past disappointments won’t further deter him in the future. The reality of Garcia is this: He really is a sports psychologist’s dream project.
“Obviously, I’ve always wanted to win at least one [major], but I would never say I felt urgency about it,’’ Garcia said. “But, if I get to 45 and I haven’t won one, then I’ll probably start worrying a bit more. Hopefully that won’t happen.’’
If it does, maybe then he’ll need a psychiatrist.