How did Sergio Garcia transform from bad boy to beloved champ? | Marcus Hayes
While winning his first major title at the Masters, Garcia turned into a fan favorite after years of bad (golf) behavior.
Sergio Garcia won his first major at the Masters, playing like an absolute champion in the final few holes, making brilliant shots down the homestretch and in the playoff against Justin Rose.
It's a week later and, still, one confounding question remains:
How did the poster boy for petulance become golf's darling at - of all places - Augusta National?
Sergio, a Spanish meltdown machine with the manners of an MMA fighter, somehow was the crowd favorite despite walking hip-to-hip with the Rose of England - an elegant, charismatic Olympic champion.
Sure, Sergio hadn't fulfilled the prodigious promise he showed as a 19-year-old skipping up the 16th fairway at Medinah in the 1999 PGA Championship, but, frankly, he had become his own worst enemy. And then, for two days, he rode a surge of sympathy all the way to a green jacket.
How?
How did fans at golf's stuffiest venue suddenly warm to the guy whose tantrums are legend; who blamed the golf gods for routine misfortunes; who spat in the cup after he missed a putt at Doral in 2007?
Why did the smartest golf zealots on the planet so ecstatically support the guy who, in 2013, recycled the "fried chicken" line in reference to Tiger Woods – a quip that ruined the post-PGA career of Masters champion Fuzzy Zoeller?
When did Sergio transform to a mature adult from the kid with the grip yips at the 2002 U.S. Open, which spurred the crowd at Bethpage Black to mock him by counting the number of times he re-gripped … which, in turn, spurred him to flip them the bird? Golf nuts travel well, so there must have been a few flip-ees among the azaleas two Sundays ago.
Well, maybe those flip-ees didn't take it personally. Maybe nobody ever disliked Sergio all that much. Perhaps the anti-Sergio narrative was amplified by golf geeks and journalists who worship the game (hand raised). Perhaps the small minority of self-proclaimed protectors of the game resented Garcia's lack of control and lack of class. Perhaps the overwhelming majority of the golf community simply shrugged its collective shoulders and moved on.
Besides, fans of all sports sometimes have short memories, and Sergio has been on his best behavior since he aimed his racist comment at Tiger during a European Tour awards dinner. His fried chicken hangover lasted through the end of the 2013 PGA season, but then he seemed to push a reset button. He has now finished in the top six in five of the 13 majors since. Also, at the prestigious Players Championship, Garcia finished second in 2014 and third in 2015. He's playing better for longer stretches.
He doesn't sweat the small stuff as much, either. Maybe that comes with age. He's 37 now. In 2014, Euro god Nick Faldo said Sergio had been "useless" in Europe's Ryder Cup loss in 2008, but Garcia did not rise to the bait. At the raucous 2016 Ryder Cup, Garcia was no more indecorous than anyone else.
Much has been made lately of Garcia's engagement to former college golfer and golf reporter Angela Akins, who is considered a stabilizing element in Garcia's turbulent world, and maybe she is.
Garcia has been in high-profile, long-term relationships before. He still acted like an idiot.
A week ago, for whatever reason, no one held that against him.