Newsmakers 2007: Sergio Garcia

[#image: /photos/55ad9c5badd713143b439a98]||||||El Niño might be the only spanish-speaking public figure in America to have had a worse year than Alberto Gonzales. It started at Doral when Garcia morphed into l'enfant terrible, leaving his saliva behind at the bottom of a cup on the unlucky 13th hole of the Blue Monster. TV captured the magic loogie, though ShotLink failed to record it. Garcia declared it no big deal, a sentiment not entirely embraced by those playing behind him or, presumably, the tour. Of course, Sergio's ire was the result of his interminable putting woes. Long one of the finest ball-strikers in the land, who among us hasn't thought that if Loren Roberts were putting for Sergio, Tiger Woods might occasionally find out that second still sucks. Unfortunately for Garcia, the Boss of the Moss isn't in the bullpen. But, at his father Victor's suggestion, the belly putter was. At long last, it seemed as though Garcia had found something that made him, if not extraordinary on the greens, at least no worse than ordinary. It certainly appeared that way at the British Open at Carnoustie. Undistracted by the asp of golf, the snaking Barry Burn, Sergio, the dashing bachelor, was dancing with the stars. His opening rounds of 65-71-68 staked him to a three-shot lead over Steve Stricker and six on the only guys, as it turned out, he really needed to worry about. His 10-foot putt to win on 18 slid by, and he lost to Padraig Harrington in a playoff. Sergio later complained he had been iced in the 18th fairway whilst the greenside bunker (which, incidentally, he himself found) was raked. He lamented the general alignment of the stars against him and, more specifically, the insidious plot of the International Federation of Bunker-Rakers. Alas, the British Open was not to be his final indignation. That came in the PGA at the end of Boo Weekley's pencil. Boo wrote down 4 for Sergio on Southern Hills' 17th when he actually made 5. Sergio was disqualified. The logical conclusion? Weekley must be a union man.

Newsmakers 2007: Sergio Garcia

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