TOUR SCENE/News round-up: For just over a year, Sergio Garcia reconstructed and tinkered with his swing until the waggles weren't quite as noticeable and the swing itself wasn't quite as cumbersome as the old one. Philip Reid reports
Finally, it became second nature to him. On Sunday last, after a two-year drought without a tour win, the 24-year-old Spaniard won again - in a three-man play-off in the Byron Nelson Classic - and suddenly, all seems not only right with the world, but also with Europe's bid to retain the Ryder Cup.
For, despite his young age, Garcia can be a talisman for the European team. One of the reasons the European qualifying system was altered for this year's match at Oakland Hills in Detroit was to give players based mainly in the US a chance to play their way onto the team without relying on a captain's wild card selection. Up to now, it had seemed as if captain Bernhard Langer was destined to waste one of those two picks on Garcia.
Now, with one win, Garcia has it in his hands to play his way onto the team. He has moved up to third in the European Ryder Cup world points table (behind Padraig Harrington and Miguel Angel Jimenez), and up to 17th - from last week's 38th - in the official world rankings.
Although he once occupied such lofty heights as fifth in the world, Garcia insisted his game is now better than back then.
"My confidence with my putter is not as good as it was," he conceded, "but my confidence with my long game is miles better. In my head I have things so clear . . . the way I want to play the hole, where I want to hit it, and not to make stupid mistakes. Before, when I didn't putt well, I would go crazy and try to hit it every time. Now I know what to do around the course, and that definitely comes from having confidence in yourself and in your swing."
Garcia reconstructed his swing because he knew it was liable to creak under pressure, and the work paid off as he came down the stretch in Irving, Texas, on Sunday as he shot a final round 71 for 10-under-par 270, to earn a play-off with Robert Damron and Dudley Hart which he won with a par at the first extra hole.
While Hart took himself out of the reckoning with a double bogey, Damron lagged his 50-foot birdie putt to four feet. But then he stepped up too quickly and pulled the par putt left. He'd had a similar putt in regulation, so knew the line. "There was no point reading it, I knew what I was doing . . . I just butchered it," said Damron.
"Winning is always great, they are the little things that get you going a bit," remarked Garcia, who was securing his fourth win on the US Tour to add to the four titles he has claimed on the European Tour, the first of which was the Irish Open at Druids Glen in 1999. That initial tournament win seemed likely to be the first in a string of such successes, and he actually tied for third in his debut on the US Tour at the Byron Nelson that same year and then challenged Tiger Woods at the US PGA.
But his form has been inconsistent and victories have come slowly. He changed his swing to reduce the lag and, over the past six months, and especially in the US Masters when he was eight-under for his last 12 holes, there has been evidence that Garcia had started to play much better. The only thing holding him back, it seemed, was his putting. Yet, in Sunday's final round, he made a number of clutch putts for par to stay at the top of the leaderboard.
It was around the time of the American Express championship last September that he began to feel his restructured swing was where he wanted it.
"I'm through with all the changes and I now feel like I'm in pretty good control of it. It feels good overall and I feel happy with my game, (but) I still have got to work on a couple of things.
"It was definitely important for me to win (the Byron Nelson), but I am out here to try to win every week and as many tournaments as I can. I'm always trying my hardest, and sometimes things go right and sometimes they don't . . . a couple of breaks here and there throughout a tournament are huge.
"I've felt like I've been playing well all year. I felt like I put together some really good ball-striking rounds, but probably haven't got the most out of them. I've been working my way through them, and I've just got to keep that positive attitude and be as patient as I've been this week. If I manage to do that, things will get better and better."
While Garcia plays in the Colonial this week, where he collected his first win on the US Tour in 2001, he is also looking ahead to next month's US Open at Shinnecock Hills with increased confidence.
"When I turned professional, you hope for the best but don't always know what to expect. But I would definitely be happy with the way things are now. But, you know, we're never satisfied and we always want more, so maybe we get a bit too greedy.
"I'm looking forward to Shinnecock. My confidence is good and definitely hitting the ball nicely like I am helps, even more in a US Open. You know how crucial it is to drive the ball well there.
"That's one of the reasons I love the majors so much, because it is not quite such a putting shoot-out. You know, if you're striking the ball really nicely you can be up there in contention."
