Sergio Garcia = Greg Norman?

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 12, 2008 12:26 AM EDT Comment 11 comments

Andrew Both of the Australian paper The Age is postulating that Sergio Garcia is the modern Greg Norman. (Modern in a relative sense.)

SERGIO Garcia is the Greg Norman of the 21st century.

Norman endured the slings and arrows of outrageous golf fortune, sometimes self-inflicted, for the best part of 15 years. Garcia is now enduring the same mental torture.

Three times, he has finished second in major championships, twice third and twice fourth, and the swashbuckling Spaniard is still seeking his first major trophy.

Not much statistically speaking to draw comparisons to Norman, though. Thanks to Wikipedia for doing some of it for me!

Garcia is now 28 years old. Like Both mentions, he has three runner up finishes in majors - with his first in 1999. Norman did not finish 2nd in a major until the 1984 US Open at 29 years of age. Therefore, Garcia is more accomplished in the sense of getting close to a major win than Norman.

Norman has 8 career runner up finishes in the majors. The bulk of those came in the later part of the 80s - so his 30s. So, the best could still be to come for Garcia. But, at a minimum, it will take several years more before Sergio is Greg Norman.

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Andrew Both has a time machine ?

These are the articles you write when you have nothing on your mind…except maybe a couple extra adult beverages.

I absolutely despise these “you’re a loser and you’ll when you’re done, you’ll be remembered for being a loser” articles.

Greg Norman DOESN’T have a big zero in his major championship win column. He won The British Open twice, and had a shot at winning a third a month ago. Norman had a very good career with wins around the world. (and Andrew Both can’t even begin to imagine the women who lined up for him week in and week out) :-)

The PROPER comparison between Norman and Garcia is this – Garcia hasn’t won a major YET. Look at Greg Norman – he didn’t give up and he eventually won TWO majors. Sure, he lost a few of them (actually, he lost TWO of them – both at Augusta – the rest he got outplayed or it took a miracle), but he never ever gave up. For most people, it takes time and maturity. For some it takes the week of a lifetime that will probably never be repeated.

Sergio Garcia is a supremely talented golfer who still faces maturity issues, and he IS just 28. He’s not 38 or 48. If he were to believe idiotic articles like this, he would just hang up the spikes now and retire. Thankfully, he has a better head on his shoulder than some bored journalist who writes garbage like this because Garcia wouldn’t “give” him an emotional tantrum to write about after the PGA.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 12, 2008 9:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

nice English CG

“I absolutely despise these "you’re a loser and you’ll when you’re done, you’ll be remembered for being a loser" articles.”

translates to – I absolutely despise these “you’re a loser NOW, you’ll always be a loser, and when you’re done you’ll be remembered for being a loser” articles.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 12, 2008 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Total Agreement

I really don’t like articles like this that pronounce someone’s career over at such a young age – though I have written scathing criticisms of young players that turn pro too soon.

While I am not a Sergio fan, he is just too good not to win one eventually. He’s not even in what is considered the prime for golfers (32 to 40) for winning major championships. It’s bound to happen.

By my estimation (with big help from fellow blogger Bill Jempty), Norman blew about a dozen good chances to win major championships over the course of his career. I don’t think Sergio has really blown but 2 – both to Paddy – to date.

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 12, 2008 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"good chances" ?

How are you and Bill defining “good chances” ?

The two that I was counting were the ‘86 Masters where he jabbed his way around the course and Nicklaus blew by, and the famous “meltdown” to Faldo, and Faldo had to play a spectacular round to win as well. Those are the only two that I can think of where he had a 54 hole lead and lost without some sort of miraculous chip in or other shot.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 12, 2008 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Here's a link

...to the post Bill did on the subject and that I agreed with after taking a look.

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 12, 2008 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

that's pretty harsh...

...first off, agreeing with Gene Wojciechowski is dicey. He was in the camp that said Norman “choked” at Birkdale. Come on – Norman is 53 years old and barely plays anymore. Wojciechowski should be ashamed of himself for suggesting such a thing. He had three amazing days – he just didn’t have a fourth. And he didn’t completly fall apart – he at least has an invitation to The Masters for next year.

Adding second place finishes (non-playoff) to the list of “near misses” is borderline. Losing by two or three or more strokes is hardly a “near miss”. Lipping out a putt to tie on 18 is a near miss.

Four playoff losses – two of them by miraculous shots – can’t fault him there. Who knows what might have happened at the US Open this year if the USGA hadn’t chosen the 6th hole as the first sudden death hole ? That was THE worst possible hole on the entire course for Mediate’s ball flight. (dogleg right – DEEP bunker on the outside corner of the dogleg) Start it on another hole and Tiger might not have won.

Getting outplayed by Olazabel in ‘99 isn’t anything to be ashamed of – Oli is a multiple major winner, he wasn’t handing his clubs to his caddy.

I guess it sounds like I’m a Norman apologist. I was/am a big fan (except for his latest choice in wives).

What gets to me is this never ending string of articles by guys who couldn’t hold Norman’s jock finding ways to denegrate a great player. Norman was the #1 ranked player in the world for a very long time. Of course it would have been nice to see his resume with a few more majors, but articles that file players like Norman in the loser bin are nothing more than journalistic snobbery.

Norman didn’t whine and complain – he always had a good word for the guys who won ahead of him. He was and is a classy guy. Cliche cheap shot articles have no place around guys like this.

When I write about a player’s play, I always try to remember the great speech from Teddy Roosevelt…

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

If you have never read this speech, here is a link – it is TRULY inspiring

http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 12, 2008 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

To clear up

I don’t think I would classify those 13 opportunities as chokejobs. But, I would classify them as opportunities that slipped by Norman. Yeah, some were miracle shots, some were nice runs on Sunday, and some were legit chokes. To go 1 for, I think, 8 career in holding a 54 hole lead and winning speaks to that choking thing.

Still, Norman was gracious in losing in a way that we have never seen from Sergio. He deserves a lot of credit for that.

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 12, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

understood

any great player can look back over almost every round of every tournment they have ever played and find strokes they “left out on the course” – but you can drive yourself over the edge of sanity if you let them dwell on your mind. I guess that’s how Norman stayed #1 for so long. He left the mistakes behind and moved on to the next week. It’s a shame our “media” doesn’t do the same.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 12, 2008 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think Sergio will break through soon. He is a great player, and Tiger is out of the picture. However, the lack of mental toughness might get in the way, and it bugged me that he walked into the picture of Harrington’s putt celebration on the 18th, like nothing was happening.

Arizona State Sun Devils blog: House of Sparky.
www.houseofsparky.com

by Cory Williams on Aug 12, 2008 2:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

in Sergio's defense

they weren’t the last group – and Serio’s putt did have significance. If he had made it, he was solo second. He might have taken a few extra seconds to let things die down (since “rain delay” Curtis was a full hole behind) – but he did the same thing on 16 and 17. Harrington’s putt was down and it was Sergio’s turn to putt.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 12, 2008 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs