Golf US Masters: Philip Reid on the return to top-class competitive form of the young Spaniard who not so long ago was to be king

Life on the inside of the ropes can be cruel, with no escape from the jibes of those who congregate on the outside. When the game is going badly, these tortured souls who call themselves professional golfers reveal every torment in their facial expressions . . . and, for much of this season, no-one has exhibited quite as much pain and anguish as Sergio Garcia.

More than once, it's been cruelly said he has been suffering from a heartache called "hingisitis", some sort of love-smitten bug that only afflicts the young at heart.

Dumped, apparently, by Martina Hingis and struggling so badly with his golf game that he decided to undergo drastic swing changes, the 23-year-old Spaniard has endured a rather miserable time on the US Tour so far this season.

His best finish was for tied-25th in the season-opening Mercedes Championship, but, since then, it has been downhill with three missed cuts - at the Nissan Open, the Bay Hill Invitational and the Players' Championship - to make people wonder just what direction he was headed.

The rot, however, was halted yesterday. Rather than lurching around the course like a lost soul, the young whippersnapper had a bounce back in the step. The cheeky smile had returned, and the glint in the darting eyes indicated that he was glad to be in the thick of things at last, rather than fighting for weekend survival.

He was back on his chosen path of chasing a major title.

"I'm young and I have plenty of chances to win, but the sooner it comes the better," insisted Garcia, who opened with a three-under-par 69 to be alone in second place, three shots behind Darren Clarke after the first round.

Coincidentally, given that they'd switched club manufacturers over the off-season, Garcia was playing in the same three-ball in yesterday's first round of the Masters as Els. In the winter, when deals and endorsements are conducted, Garcia moved from Titleist to TaylorMade, and Els - a four-time winner this season - made the move in the opposite direction. Until yesterday, it had seemed that the South African had got the better part of the bargain.

Yesterday, though, it was the Spaniard who reaped the richer dividends in the season's first major.

Of course, he still waggles the club when standing for an inordinately long amount of time over the ball. But it's not as long as it used to be. And, of course, he still has that loop, or what he calls a lag, at the top of his swing. But, there again, it is not as obvious as it used to be.

In many ways, the swing is much changed from the one of old; the quest to have more control of what he is about to do to the ball finally seems to be bearing some fruit. There were times he was in the trees - but, hey, it wouldn't be Garcia if that wasn't the case.

And there was the occasional rush of blood to the head, too.

In attempting to explain the difference in his swing, Garcia said: "I used to get the club quite a bit outside. I mean, when I was on the top of my backswing, it was short and quite a bit left, aiming left.

"Now I am trying to go a little more in line up to the top, trying to make the swing a little longer. I'm getting more towards parallel and then getting the club to aim more towards the target. That helps me reduce the lag, so it goes back in line."

For much of his run over his front nine, having started on the 10th in that first round, Garcia played gloriously. It seemed that the return of major competition - he was the only player to finish in the top-10 in all four of last year's majors - rekindled his fighting spirit.

There was some good fortune too. Like on the 11th, where he chipped in from 20 feet.

Garcia's outward run included four birdies in five holes, including two around Amen Corner, where he birdied the 12th - hitting a fine nine-iron to four feet - and the 13th, where he was on in two and two-putted from 35 feet.

It was only over the closing few holes that his early-season frailty seemed to be back to haunt him, when he bogeyed the seventh and the ninth, missing the greens on each occasion. After the way the season has gone for him to date, though, it was a round that marked the return of Garcia to the circle of likely champions.