Garcia Short Again

Filed in archive Golf News on August 11, 2008

Courtesy: AFP

I caught the tail-end of Sergio Garcia's press conference in the aftermath of the PGA Championship on Sunday.

And I managed to see a good amount of the action even though I was on a brief summer holiday.

It was plain to see how torn up Garcia was to lose another major and to lose it to Padraig Harrington again.

But he was openly upset when a reporter asked him to summarize Harrington's play in the last month.

Garcia simply walked off the podium at that point.

Who can blame him? He did everything he could - as he said - to win on Sunday on a very tough course and in difficult conditions.

But he should not and likely will not consider this loss in the same way as Carnoustie last year.

That major, Sergio did throw away and he knows it. This one, he fought hard for. He putted very well but Padraig Harrington simply putted better.

What can you do against that? Garcia did not lose the PGA; Harrington won it. Sergio had to manage his feelings playing with Harrington which made matters worse at the end.

However, as Kraig Kahn of The Golf Channel put it, Garcia is now wearing the dubious mantle of "best player not to win a major".

And his name will probably be mentioned along with Greg Norman's as the players most often snake-bitten in a major.

It's heartbreaking to see Garcia go through this again and again. He's been knocking on the door of majors for years, now.

You have to wonder how much more battle scarring the young Spaniard needs to endure before Fate finally smiles on him.