Sergio García: El Niño is still in the eye of the hurricane | Sports

Sergio García has never stopped being El Niño. The nickname has been with him since he turned professional in 1999, the year golf discovered a young player brimming with talent and character. His appearance was as dazzling as the weather phenomenon that gave him his name. He happened that season in the PGA Championship, one of the big four. The man from Castellón fought for the title clashing face to face with Tiger Woods. He beat the Tiger by one stroke (-11 to -10), but the 19-year-old not only left the tournament’s stroke leading to green the ball from behind a tree on the 16th hole, with hardly any visibility, then following his flight on the run, jumping with boundless energy. Suddenly a star was born. And she wanted to take on the world.

Thus, with almost no learning in the elite, without the filming that shapes the personality, Sergio García Fernández gave way to El Niño. His career accelerated from 0 to 100. That tournament was the firecracker that ignited a career that in 23 years has collected a good handful of successes and a few controversies, the last one his planting on the American circuit (PGA Tour) and his signing for the millionaire saudi league. Almost a quarter of a century has given many stories to a golfer as passionate as García, an indisputable talent, a metronome among the best, and at the same time a volcanic personality, a man with hot blood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGmybEj-E-Y

When he punctures his ball this Thursday at the start of the US Open, Sergio García will become at 42 years of age the Spaniard with the most disputed majors: 94, one more than José María Olazabal. It will be another milestone for who has 36 professional titles, 11 of them on the American circuit which he now denies (after amassing 54 million dollars), and among those that shine as peaks are the 2008 Players and, above all, the 2017 Masters , his first and only great. Along the way, 23 rankings among the top 10 in a major, number two in the world in 2008 and 2009, only one course finish outside the top 50 (2010) and six Ryder Cup titles, a tournament in which he is the most all-time scorer (28) and golfer with the most games won (25). A gold record. Although there remains the feeling that in those magical hands there was some other great.

There were several shots at the post. 2007 British Open, for example. Carnoustie. Leader after each of the first three days, and three strokes ahead of the last round. The glory in his fingers and those putts that escape him, like the playoff against Padraig Harrington. A hard knock. The love-hate relationship with the greats was written over many years. At the 2012 Masters, El Niño made a startling statement: “After 13 years, today was the day I realized it. I’m not capable of winning a big one. Thats the reality. I’m not good enough and now I know. I’ve been trying for 13 years and I don’t feel capable of winning. I don’t know what happens to me. It could be something psychological… I’m running out of options. I’m not good for the big ones. I will try to be second or third and nothing happens, you can live without a major”.

Pressured by his own desire to be a great champion, by the expectations that had been overwhelmed that 1999, the man exploded. He had hardly resorted to mental help during his career, he himself admitted that it was difficult for him to touch maturity, and he even regretted feeling “more recognized outside of Spain, in England and the United States.” The national press did not escape a dart: “I have done something wrong and they have taken the opportunity to become great.”

Redemption came where surely least expected. Augusta, land of his nightmares, became paradise. In 2017 he dressed in the green jacket and took off the title of best player in the world without a big one. Such was the reconciliation that he baptized his daughter Azalea, the name of the 13th hole of the course, the queen flower of the Masters. Sergio touched the sky and without knowing it he began the descent. The following year he missed the cut after hitting 13 strokes on the 15th hole, the worst hole in Masters history. He sent the ball into the water five times in a row but stated: “I haven’t missed a shot. The ball did not want to stay”. Since his triumph at Augusta, the Spaniard has missed 12 cuts in 19 major contests. His best ranking has been a 19th place.

Parallel to the golfer, more or less successful but always in the pomade, a person has often grown in the center of the target. The noise has been constant. The other side of his successes is drawn by episodes such as throwing a shoe after missing a shot, spitting in a hole (he said he dropped his saliva), hitting it with sand, grass or an ambient microphone, breaking a putter at hits, throw the clubs in the air or face a fan: “Do you want to shut the fuck up?”, he released in 2018. A year later he was expelled from the Saudi International for intentionally damaging the greens, dragging his feet, of losing his temper in a bunker: “The mother who gave birth to all of them already, man! fucking shit! Damn, they caddies of shit who don’t know how to fix the bunkers! Fuck it in the ass!” His brother Víctor has brought him the bag of clubs in some stages.

With Tiger he also had more than one run-in. Woods never put up with Garcia moving around the circuit with an air of grandeur when he, in his opinion, hadn’t done enough merit. After several slights between one and the other, in 2013 the man from Castellón, asked if he would invite his rival to dinner, said that he would feed him “fried chicken”, a comment that in the United States is considered racist. The Kid apologized.

Today the conflict comes in the form of Saudi money. García is the great Spanish figure enlisted in the new competition (along with Pablo Larrazábal, Adrian Otaegui and David Puig), for now the counterpoint to what Jon Rahm symbolizes on the American circuit. “I have not been suspended because I am not a member of that circuit. What the PGA says I don’t care. It would have been better if the two circuits coexisted, but some have not wanted to. I don’t know if I would have been able to keep the license anyway, because I would have had to play a lot of tournaments. This allows me to play less and see my family more”, explained the Spaniard about his participation in the London tournament, the first chapter of the LIV Golf series (he finished 22nd, with +6) and after the expulsion of the rebels from the PGA Tour. He had already resigned.

Now his plans are to play the other seven tournaments in the Saudi league, until October, and the big ones. In the past Masters he was followed by Pau Gasol, Luis Figo and José Andrés. This week he competes at the US Open. And in July comes the British Open in Saint Andrews, the tournament that every Spaniard dreams of. Also that Child who 23 years ago began to leave no one indifferent.

You can follow EL PAÍS Sports in Facebook y Twitterthe apuntarte here to receive our weekly newsletter.