A "nice" Tiger would still not alter Sergio's disappointing career

This past Sunday, I kept myself updated on the progress of the final round of the Players Championship golf tournament, which on my cellphone is an interminable process. At one point I was informed that after birdying the 16^th hole, Sergio Garcia found himself in a tie for the lead with Tiger Woods, who had one hole yet to play. Did I want to see a playoff battle between the pair? No; I wanted Tiger to win it outright and avoid the circus and speculation sure to follow. The two had been paired during Saturday’s third round, and it only gave Garcia an excuse to rekindle some festering grudge he had against Woods. 

With some trepidation I updated the leaderboard ten minutes later, and I became confused; wasn’t it just minutes ago Garcia was tied for the lead at 13 shots under par? His name was now nowhere to be seen on the first page of the leaderboard; there must be some mistake. Scrolling down a little further, there he was: 9 strokes under par now, just one hole later. I found out later that “Submergio”—as someone on Jim Rome’s radio show called him—had dumped two tee shots into the drink on the Par-3 17^th, eventually shooting a quadruple bogey on the hole. “Submergio” and his ball also took an underwater cruise on the 18^th, and in the end he lost six strokes on just the two final holes. Interestingly, the media did not find this collapse particularly epic or noteworthy, since in his fourteen or so years as a professional, Garcia has won a total of eight PGA events and no majors—so it wasn’t like anyone was missing anything.

Garcia, as memory has it, was supposed to be the heir apparent for Spain’s greatest golfer, the late Seve Ballesteros. Ballesteros was not a regular on the PGA tour, but he was popular with golf fans and made a name for himself by winning the Masters on two occasions and the British Open three times. Garcia has not matched his success or his popularity, although in the beginning commentators and fans were fascinated by  Garcia’s emotionalism, which at first was “charming” because of his youth. But like David Duvall, he never lived up to the hype. But Garcia did have one thing in common with Ballesteros, other than the fact they both are from Spain: Both perceived golfers on the American tour to be too “reserved” and even “unfriendly,” which Ballesteros claimed was in contrast to his “hot” Spanish blood. Garcia claimed on Saturday that Woods was not the “nicest guy on tour,” and later said it didn’t take a “rocket engineer” to know that they were not “friends.” 

Garcia may simply be expressing a self-conscious recognition that while his and Woods’ professional careers began at around the same time, and both were predicted to have successful careers, Woods has left him the dust—and he does not like it. Perhaps he doesn’t feel “respected” by Woods, although Tiger is famously taciturn (save when he makes a bad shot) on the golf course. Jack Nicklaus, who has spoken glowingly of Tiger, has admitted that Woods has exchanged few words with him, which naturally suggests a certain elevated aloofness. But Woods has always been somehow in a different world from other golfers, not just because of his superior skills, but because he, well, looks different than the rest of them. 

In any case, Woods and Garcia do have a history. Remember “Monday Night Golf”? It was called “Battle of the Bighorn,” and as memory recalls, there were three such prime time extravaganzas, all which featured Tiger. The 2000 edition featured Woods and Garcia in a face-off, which if nothing else demonstrated Garcia’s popularity at the time, and perhaps the belief that his (in)famous animated behavior would liven-up the show. Woods was reportedly ill with the flu, which was not helped by the fact that he was worn out after just completing a win at the NEC Invitational the previous evening. Woods actually played well, shooting a five-under 67, but Garcia bested him by one stroke, and no doubt irritated Woods and other observers with his ecstatic gyrations, as if beating a tired and ill Woods in a one round exhibition was the greatest achievement in the history of the sport. 

Their relationship hasn’t been helped by instances of petty tit-for-tat. At the 2002 U.S. Open, Garcia complained that play should have been suspended during a rain shower—insinuating that PGA officials would have done so if his Highness was still on the course. In 2006, Woods poked fun at Garcia, who was wearing a yellow outfit when they were paired in the final round of the British Open; Woods “joked” afterwards that he had just knocked-out “Tweety Bird.”

Garcia complained on Saturday that Woods deliberately tried to rattle him while he was about to strike the ball, by pulling a club out of his bag that he knew would elicit an enthusiastic  response from the gallery. But he doth complain too much; one missed shot won’t alter the fact that Woods has left him far down the road.