GOLF/US Open Championship: Sergio Garcia's face hasn't exactly hardened, but it doesn't look as if it belongs on a teenager any more. Yesterday, in the first round of the US Open on a fiendishly difficult course at Bethpage Black, there was evidence too that the Spaniard's inner mind had also strengthened as, in keeping a check on his emotions and sticking with a pre-ordained course management plan, he constructed a score that provided solid foundations in the quest for a first major title.
On a day when many capitulated to the challenge, and with the ominous presence of Tiger Woods everywhere as the galleries urged on his every move through the dense woodland through which the course is created, Garcia was one of those who refused to be intimidated.
And an opening round two-under-par 68 - his best opening round score - intimated that destiny was finally calling the 22-year-old.
If there was a time when Garcia, currently ranked fifth in the world, was a bit too impetuous for his own good, it would seem that he has discovered the patience really is a virtue.
"In every major you have got to be patient, that you've got to take it one shot at a time and one hole at a time," said Garcia.
Yesterday, he was as good as his word; but there were others who were bitten by a course where, despite the absence of wind and with the greens softened by overnight rain, any errant drive was heavily punished in the thick rough.
Among those to struggle were Justin Leonard and Davis Love, two players coasting until costly lapses. In Leonard's case it came on the 12th where he took three shots to escape the clinging greenside rough, going in one fell swoop from one-under to two-over and eventually signing for a 73.
And Love double-bogeyed the 16th when requiring two shots to get out of similar thick rough.
For Colin Montgomerie, with many in the crowd wearing "Be Nice To Monty" badges and not a heckle to be heard, there was a disappointing 75 and a rueful sigh of, "I wish I could be nice to myself," from the Scot.
While Ernie Els, who normally likes the US Open course set-up, had his own troubles in claiming a 73.
"The course is in great shape," Els said. "The pace of the greens was very quick. The rain didn't slow them at all. I wasted some shots, particularly on my front nine. I guess I should be content with a 73. It could have been worse, could have been a little better, too."
Darren Clarke, too, was having his troubles. Playing in the mad party that is a round of golf with Woods, he endured a bogey-bogey start - on the 10th and 11th - and was in the unwanted position of playing catch-up with the world number one.
Woods, for his part, was two-under at the turn, and playing some sublime golf, and more ominously than ever moved into the lead on three-under when he birdied the second hole, his 11th.
Meanwhile, Paul McGinley, who started with nine straight pars, was two over after 12.
Garcia also played some lovely golf, and it wasn't unexpected. For one, he leads the US Tour in total driving this season, which is a combination of distance and accuracy. In simple words, he hits it long and straight - particularly appealing on a course like Bethpage Black.
"I managed to hit a lot of fairways, and that was a big help," he conceded. "The big thing about this kind of course is that you can really hit driver everywhere, and I am very confident with that club."
While the likes of Phil Mickelson - "This is as hard a US Open as I have played. The fairways are as tight and the rough as thick as I have ever seen," he said - got off to a blistering start by birdieing two of the toughest holes on the course, the 10th and 11th, only to self-destruct and be eternally happy to sign for a round of 70, Garcia had no blow-outs. He grabbed his first birdie on the fourth, where he chipped dead, and then chipped in from the first cut of rough from 12 feet for another birdie on the fifth.
A sloppy seven-iron approach into the sixth resulted in him finding a greenside trap from which he failed to get up and down, but he got the shot back with a six-iron approach to 20 feet on the 12th.
On the way home, it was a case of battening down the hatches. His survival instincts were most in evidence on the 16th and 17th, where Garcia made improbable sand saves.
"The rough here is the thickest I have ever seen. If you go in, and the ball is lying down, you have just got to pray that you will be able to get it back out on to the fairway," insisted Garcia.
Life is good for Garcia at the moment, and a major win would make it better. He has a girlfriend - Martina Hingis - who is an international sports star; and he is keeping a close eye on Spain's progress in World Cup.
"I am not thinking about Raul's goals, or any of the other guys. I am thinking about scoring my own goals . . . and that is what I am trying to do. But I do hope to be able to watch the game with Ireland on Sunday."
If he keeps playing as he is, a later tee-time will be assured, and that particular aim will be far easier achieved than actually winning the US Open title.
