The Spaniard was never likely to let the trauma of Carnoustie ruin his life, and he is back in Britain with a bounce in his step, writes Philip Reid
THE WOUNDS have healed. No longer does Sergio Garcia lie awake at night wondering about missed putts, and of one - at Carnoustie - in particular. He doesn't wonder any more about the fickleness of the golfing gods, or if he'd have snuggled up at night with the Claret Jug if only that putt on the 18th green of the final round of the British Open last July had been a mere half an inch to the right. It wasn't, and what's done is done.
Yesterday, that old arrogance of Garcia's was back. It's actually a likeable trait in the Spaniard, a sign he believes in his own ability. It's a sign he knows how good he is, or can be.
And, since his travails at Carnoustie, where he was out-duelled by Pádraig Harrington when it mattered, the Spaniard has bounced back.
Now, making a rare-enough appearance in Britain, where the tax laws are not to his liking, Garcia is back as The Players champion and with the sense that time is on his side.
Garcia showed his more mature side yesterday when recalling the impact of that play-off loss.
"You know, overall, I felt like it was a very positive week. I felt like I learned a lot, and that probably made me a better player for this year. If I would have made that putt, maybe I would never have gone back to the short putter and never won The Players championship . . . everything happens for a reason, and if I wasn't meant to win at the Open last year, there must have been a reason for it."
Certainly, he is here with intent - "I'm here to try to win this event," he said, with a certain hint of hardness - and, having spent much of last week in Ireland, where "it was nice and windy" and he played four times at The Old Head in Kinsale in reacquainting his game with the nuance of links-style golf shots, Garcia is determined, as he put it, "to get the (competitive) juices going".
Indeed, as far as Garcia is concerned, it is all about this event. The Open, after all, is two weeks away; and, although his last competitive outing, in the US Open, saw him finish in tied-18th, much of the damage in that championship actually came over the first seven holes of the first round, after which he was six over par. He eventually finished six over, so played as well as anyone for 66 holes.
It was Garcia's win in The Players at Sawgrass in May, though, that provided the high point of his season to date.
On that occasion, he jokingly thanked Tiger Woods for his absence. Now, like every other tour player, Garcia will head into tournaments - and especially the majors - for the rest of the season keenly aware the world's number one is an absentee.
And one of those events will be the Ryder Cup, although Garcia - still attempting to copperfasten his place on Europe's team - warned against any complacency due to Tiger's absence.
"It's a dangerous subject for us. I don't think because Tiger is not playing that we are going to win for sure . . . everybody (on the USA team) can shake it up and show that, with or without him, they can still try to beat the Europeans."
But the Ryder Cup seems a long way away just now; there are the British Open, the USPGA, the Bridgestone Invitational to come before then. And, for Garcia, there is also this week. He wants to get back on the winning trail again, and there is the sense that this course suits his game: "I think the course is set up in a way that rewards great hitters; it looks like being pretty good fun."
It could be that Garcia deserves to carry the mantle of favouritism into the event. After all, he has missed just one cut - at the Masters - on the US Tour this season and his confidence with the putter has come on a ton since he fended off Paul Goydos in The Players.
