So Segio Garcia’s messy meltdown yesterday turns out to be the biggest choke since Greg Norman’s body was taken hostage by the ghost of a weekend hacker and fell apart at the Masters, handing the tournament to Nick Faldo in the process.
Garcia’s 6-shot lead should have been enough to hold off anyone, including Vijay Singh, who to his credit stepped up and won the Wachovia on the weekend. Associated Press’ http://www.startribune.com/stories/692/5392251.htm” target=”_blank”>Doug Ferguson has a nice account of the story, and credits Singh with stepping up to win the tournament, though the fact Garcia threw up all over himself helped the big Fijian.
At what point does Sergio Garcia go from Boy Wonder to Wonder When? After all, he was so hotly tipped when he joined the PGA Tour as a teenager and made that charge against Tiger in the PGA in Chicago. But that was half a decade ago — and still no major wins and no real examples of where he’s put himself in position to win one of those majors.
He’s reworked his swing to make himself more repetitive, but he’s really only repeated winning events that don’t really matter all that much.
Is he the best player never to have won a major or just overrated? Once heralded as the second coming of Seve, Garcia is lost in some sort of golf hinterland. He’s not spoken of in terms of greatness much, unless you are Jim Nantz and use phrases like “Vijay. Sergio. Jim…. Furyk,” as if Furyk, who a US Open under his belt, is the odd man out among the three. While Nantz may have been suprised when Garica couldn’t hole a six footer to save par in the playoff, it came as no surprise to me.
* Out this week for a sneak peak at The Club at Bond Head, a new Hurdzan/Fry layout done by associate Jason Straka. The photos make the bunkering look very striking, so I’m intrigued at seeing just how well this turned out. At $200 per round, I’m not sure I understand the business model, but the course might well be a home run. The Club at Bond Head opens this weekend.
Robert,
Played here last Friday with a colleague. We played from the 4th set of tees (7000 yds) and enjoyed it. Loved the sixth hole (short par 4) for its options. Stay out of the fairway bunkers on the long 5’s.
I’m 10 minutes away if you are looking for a fourth. 🙂
Dave
Robert,
You’re so quick to jump on guys when they have a bad Sunday. You tore into DiMarco when he didn’t show up on Sunday at the Zurich. Now you’re going after Sergio’s jugular.
Give these guys a break. Granted, neither of them deserves any serious accolades for their recent less-than-stellar Sunday performances. But, let’s not forget that its even tough for world class players to win a tournament. In Sergio’s case, its especially tough when he has guys like Furyk and Singh, who are proven winners (not to mention 10 and 16 years older than him, respecively), breathing down his back.
Moreover, I find your crack on Sergio for having not won or realistically contended in a major in a whole “half-a-decade” hardly amusing. In other words, in a measly five years a gunning 20-year-old hasn’t turned into a dominant 25-year-old, therefore we should be questioning his true ability on the golf course.
Nevermind that Furyk didn’t win his first (and only, btw) major until he was 33 and that Vijay didn’t win his first until he was 35.
Mr. Duke: Like your blog, but I think it is time that television announcers stopped talking in hyperbole and the hyped players step up and perform. I grow tired of all this hype. Where’s the wins?
Jim Furyk has only one US open ..not two…Sergio has 5 PGA wins and 9 international wins.