FedEx Cup Win Would Salvage Sergio Garcia's 2014, After Another Majorless Year
Money heals all wounds. That’s the quote, right? Something like that. Money makes the heart grow fonder? Swish.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia, our resident most-notable-player-to-never-win-a-major, is running with the bulls all the way to the top of the BMW Championship leaderboard with his six-under 64 that put him at eight under overall. Maybe a win here, and winning the FedEx Cup Playoffs at the Tour Championship, could take the sting off another major-less year.
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No green jacket. No U.S. Open Champion Trophy (way to be original). No Claret Jug. No Wanamaker.
Garcia saw Bubba Watson and two of his Ryder Cup teammates immortalize themselves with not just a major but with more majors. Watson and Kaymer won their second, and McIlroy won his fourth.
But none of them have the FedEx Cup trophy and the $10 million that goes along with it. As it stands, Garcia has a chance for redemption, to show all those goons that a year without a major still matters.
They all won something he wants, and now it’s time for him to win something they covet.
Garcia, for all the criticism he suffers, has had one of his best years. In four World Golf Championships, he finished fourth, T9, T16 and second. That last one, the Bridgestone Invitational, McIlroy took a sledgehammer to Garcia in the opening holes and smashed any hope he had of winning.
The majors were progressively better, to a point, for Garcia. He missed the cut at the Masters, finished T35 at the U.S. Open and finished second at The Open Championship where he had his first of two dance-offs with McIlroy. Garcia followed that effort with a T35 at the PGA Championship and T57 at The Barclays—the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Clearly, Garcia needed some time off.
ESPN.com’s Bob Harig wrote, “Garcia was the only player who did not commit to next week's tournament. He has said several times this year that he didn't intend to play all four events with the Ryder Cup also looming. The other players were on the commitment list but can withdraw.”
By skipping the DBC, Garcia slipped to 23rd in the FedEx Cup standings. It allowed him time to regroup after playing three tough tournaments in a span of four weeks.
Friday at Cherry Hills saw Garcia hole-out a bunker shot on No. 2 and eagle from the fairway fringe on No. 7. He was a craftsman around the greens and putted the ball as if it was on a track.
He was having himself a day before he drowned his ball on No. 17. From the drop zone he chipped to within two feet and saved par. His 12-foot putt on No. 18 put him alone in the lead at eight under. Was it huge?
“I wouldn’t say that it was big,” Garcia said during the Golf Channel broadcast. “It was nice. It wasn’t like a life-changer, I guess.”
Fair enough.
Garcia pumped a matter-of-fact fist when he rolled in that putt. His reaction was one normally reserved for successfully hooking up the DVR.
Given that he went yet another year without a major, beating a field of major champions is the next best thing, validation that he can win when the pressure ratchets up.
His ball striking has been sound, and his strokes gained and strokes gained tee-to-green are good for second on Tour. His scoring average also is second at 69.048.
Holding up the FedEx Cup would put him just a notch below McIlroy and a healthy Tiger Woods come 2015, something that didn't seem possible at one point. We're talking about a golfer who fell out of the top 50 not that long ago.
Garcia hasn’t won on American soil this year, and he’ll have to deliver from behind the shadow of the heavy-hitting McIlroy to do it. Winning the FedEx Cup will soothe that major-less burn and provide him with a bridge between now and Augusta National where he’ll again try to win one of the four elusive tournaments.
Stats are courtesy of PGATour.com.
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