Garcia: I can’t just blame the Irish
After all, it was Pádraig Harrington who twice stymied the Spaniard, at the 2007 Open and 2008 PGA Championship, while Rory McIlroy destroyed his dreams of a Claret Jug last month and just for good measure pipped him to the post last Sunday at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Garcia, however, has no such blindspots and until he was asked about the Irish influence on his career, yesterday at Valhalla, the thought of a conspiracy against him had not crossed his mind.
“That’s an interesting point,” Garcia said, laughing. “You know, I wish I could blame it only on the Irish guys. No, I think it’s just curiosity. I’ve been close two or three times with Tiger and he’s come out on top, and obviously, yeah, with Pádraig and then Rory lately. But no, it’s just the way it is. You can look at it different ways. So it’s just funny, I guess.”
Garcia’s attempts to win a Major have been the focus of attention in the golfing world for 15 years now, since that teenager came bounding out of the trees at Medinah in search of his rescue shot at the 1999 PGA.
Now 34, he still seeks the validation of a Major victory his talent deserves but his mental strength has appeared to deny him, most recently at Hoylake last month when front-running McIlroy dug deep down the stretch to hold on for victory and Garcia faded into a tie for second with Rickie Fowler.
Last Sunday’s surrender of the lead to McIlroy may not have been in a Major but it did reinforced the perception Garcia is incapable of closing the deal.
He is aware of his perceived frailties to the extent that when asked yesterday if he had ever seen a psychiatrist, a gracious Garcia replied with a smile: “Should I?”
The near misses, he insisted, were not negatives, the issues not mental.
“I try to always look at the positive side of it. I think that the only one that I could say maybe I could have done a little bit better, obviously Sunday I could have putted definitely a little bit better. For some reason I just struggled with the speed of the greens.
“But you know, if you look at some of the other finishes, I was coming from behind, I was attacking, I was trying to catch up. So I think for the most part, it’s all been very positive.
“Finishing second is not the greatest but, you know, the only guy that loses is the one that has a chance of winning. If I’m lying 50th, I’d rather finish second and lose than be 50th and not have a chance.
“It’s another big week here this week in Valhalla. So we’re going to try to do more of the same and keep playing well and see if we can be up there again on Sunday and have another good chance.”
