Sergio Garcia finally notches major victory

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Sergio Garcia didn’t need a birdie on the first hole of sudden death on Sunday at the Masters.

Par would have sufficed after Justin Rose hit wayward first and second shots at No. 18.

But with as many times as Garcia has experienced the ugly side of major championship drama, why not punctuate this golden Augusta National day with a 12-foot putt that curled around half the hole before it dropped, sending patrons jumping out of their seats and shoes and Garcia’s knees buckling in a mixture of joy, relief and perhaps even disbelief?

It’s real, El Nino: after 75 major championship starts, 19 in the Masters and two decades of chasing windmills in the manner of Don Quixote, the fictitious hero of his native country of Spain, Garcia won the Masters to join boyhood idols and two-time champions Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.

“I felt comfortable all day,” Garcia said. “I was in control of my emotions.”

That hasn’t always been the case. But after 20 years of trying, Garcia seems to have figured it out.

On what would have been Ballesteros’ 60th birthday, Garcia resisted the old urge to implode several times and shot 69 — only the second Sunday round in the 60s at Augusta in his career, and the first since 2004 — and finished regulation as he had started, in a tie with Rose (69) at 9-under-par 279.

Charl Schwartzel (68), the 2011 Masters champion, finished alone in third at 6 under. Matt Kuchar of St. Simons Island, Ga., aced the par-3 16th hole on his way to a tie for the day’s low round with a 67, and tied for fourth with Thomas Pieters (68) at 5 under.

The All-American twosome of Jordan Spieth (75) and Rickie Fowler (76), combined to shoot 5 over on the second nine and dropped into a tie for 11th at 1 under.

Garcia earned a record $1.98 million first-place check for his 10th PGA Tour title and with 600 FedEx Cup points, moved from 70th to 12th on the rankings. He also went from 11th to seventh in the world golf rankings.

Rose, who won the 2013 U.S. Open, said it was never a case of one player giving in to pressure.

“I felt pretty much in control of my game and the tournament for the most part all day,” Rose said. “Sergio did what he had to do to make a run, and I came back at him. There’s a lot of pressure out there, and if you’re not willing to enjoy it, then you’re not ready to win these tournaments.”

Both men could have won on the 72nd hole, but running on fumes after a second-nine slugfest, they missed straight-forward birdie-putt attempts, Rose from 9 feet and Garcia from 5.

They returned to the 18th tee with the sun low in the Georgia pines, and it was Garcia who regrouped. He pounded his tee shot down the right side, while Rose went too far in that direction and was blocked out by tree branches. He squirted his second shot barely more than 100 yards and hit his third to within 14 feet.

Garcia, with only 150 yards away from the hole, hit a short iron shot to within 12 feet. After Rose missed his birdie attempt, Garcia had two putts to win the Masters.

One was enough. Garcia’s fiancee, Angela Akins, stood off the green on the opposite side and when the ball fell in the hole, both went to their knees at almost the same time.

Garcia stood up and bellowed in triumph. Rose, his frequent Ryder Cup teammate, was the first to reach Garcia and his first gesture was to gently pat him on his unshaven face.

Garcia then acknowledged the Augusta patrons, who he had already praised as being on his side during the weekend, and his eyes grew damp. After hugging his caddie, Glen Murray, Garcia finally found Akins, the daughter of former University of Texas quarterback Marty Akins, and the two walked off the green arm-in-arm.

Garcia has credited Akins, a former TCU golfer, and her father, with helping sharpen his competitive instincts and the mental side of the game, drawing from their experiences.

And from above, Garcia said he felt some help from Ballesteros, who died in 2011.

“I’m sure he helped a little bit with some of those shots and some of those putts,” Garcia said. “It’s been an amazing week, and I’m going to enjoy it for the rest of my life.”

After the finish, Garcia’s father, Victor, raised his arms to the heavens and yelled in Spanish: “Sergio won this for him!”

It wasn’t an error-free round for Sergio Garcia. Not by any stretch.

He hit into trees and bushes, struck marginal shots from the fairway and missed short putts.

But Garcia stayed calm.

“As calm as I’ve ever felt in a major,” he said.

After making birdie at Nos. 1 and 3 on short putts, and combined with Rose’s bogey at No. 5, Garcia had a quick three-shot lead. But Rose battled back with three birdies in a row at No., 6, 7 and 8 and the two turned to the second nine in a tie.

Garcia then began spraying the ball and bogeyed Nos. 10 and 11 to fall two behind Rose, who appeared unyielding. Garcia parred No. 12, but his day faced the prospect of a total meltdown when he hooked his tee shot into an unplayable lie in the hazard on the left of the 13th fairway.

He took his medicine and made the best of a bad situation. Garcia dropped, punched out into the fairway, hit his fourth shot onto the green and made a 7-foot putt for par to stay two back.

A birdie at No. 14 shaved Rose’s lead to one and the key shot of the day came when Garcia hit the flagstick with his second shot into the par-5 15th hole. The ball settled 14 feet away, and Garcia rammed it in for an eagle, the first player since Olazabal in 1999 to eagle that hole and go on to win.

Rose birdied the 15th to tie Garcia, then birdied No. 16 to regain the lead for the last time. Rose bunkered his second shot at No. 17 and failed to get up-and-down, setting the stage for their two dramatic trips to the 18th hole.

“For some reason, I’ve felt comfortable in playoffs,” said Garcia, who won the 2008 Players in sudden death and has captured six of his 10 Tour titles in playoffs.

And he sure looked comfortable in that green jacket.