British Open Features Another Blown Opportunity for Sergio Garcia

TBPNTWAM. The "Best Player Never To Win A Major" title has been vacant ever since Phil Mickelson broke through, winning the Masters in 2003. Now, the tilte appears to fit the 26 year old Spaniard, Sergio Garcia.

The French, I believe it is, have a proverb that goes "the more things change, the more they remain the same". The proverb was deadly accurate once again in the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie. It was the first time since 1999 that the Open rotation turned to Carnoustie, and it's only fitting that that one featured a Frenchman improbably blowing the lead on the last hole.

The leader for most of the way in this year's edition, Sergio Garcia of Spain, didn't meltdown as badly as the hapless Jean Vandevelde in 1999. However, after having a 4 stroke lead at one time on Sunday, Garcia's collapse will be at the forefront of discussions when it comes to the dreaded "C-word" of sports for awhile. The "C-word" being "choke". Other than NBC's Johnny Miller, almost no golf commentator will dare to use that word in describing what happens when the leader after 71 holes of a 72 hole tournament misses a very makeable putt, then loses in a playoff.

Not to say for sure that is what happened. Sergio Garcia did make some good shots in the playoff and narrowly missed a hole in one on one playoff hole. Garcia got a few bad breaks, such as when the near miss rolled about 20 feet past the pin, but Sergio will be haunted for a long time by the missed 4 foot putt on the 18th hole. The ball appeared to be online, but simply wasn't struck firmly enough to hold the line.

Things seemed to be set up perfectly for Sergio Garcia, with the new belly putter he started using last week shoring up his one glaring weakness, the "flat stick". The "Texas wedge" is another term for the putter, which for years has been Garcia's 2nd greatest nemesis. Which brings us to Garcia's number 1 problem,Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods, the world's number 1 player, was not there in the final group with Garcia like last year. Garcia completely lost his poise in the 2006 British Open, missing putt after putt as Tiger pulled away for his second consecutive British Open victory.

This year, Tiger was ":waiting to be tamed", to borrow a line from the Coldplay song "Clocks", tied for 15th for something like that. Last year's collapse by Sergio Garcia was made worse by Garcia's constant yapping the first three days. Things like he wasn't afraid to be paired with Woods, he relished the chance to take on Tiger, schoolboy stuff like that.

The cocky comments blew up in Garcia's face and made him look silly to a media that has been trying to prop Garcia up as a rival of Tiger's ever since Garcia finished 2nd to Woods at the 1999 PGA.

This time, Garcia didn't have to worry with Tiger Woods way back in the pack and "El Nino" found a way to lose anyway. Garcia did show progress in his putting, so as he gains more confidence in the belly putter, Garcia will possibly be able to "close the deal" the next time he comes close to winning one of golf's Majors.

He has also made progress in his habit of fidgeting and waggling the club seemingly for 10 minutes before every crucial shot. A few years ago, hecklers in the gallery loudly counted waggles before his shots, unnerving the Spaniard even more.

To sum it up, Sergio Garcia has all the tools to play with anyone, maybe even Tiger Woods. What he hasn't had, to this point, is the mental toughness to grind it out when things go awry, as they inevitably do on a golf course in the course of 18 holes.

Not to take anything away from Padraig Harrington of Ireland, the 2007 British Open winner. Padraig Harrington is the ultimate grinder, golf's term for a golfer with less than stellar ability who manages to get "up and down" for pars on the toughest courses and make enough birdies to get into contention. It was doubly good to see the stuffy Brits grit their teeth at seeing an Irishman win the coveted Claret Jug for the first time since 1947.

This years edition of the tournament, huffily called "THE Open" by the Brits and ABC's Mike Turico at every conceivable opportunity, even had Irish-American John Daly in the lead briefly last Thursday. Before "Long John" imploded like a twinkie placed in a microwave oven, as most of us thought he would.

Ireland's Rory McIlroy finished with the low score by an amateur. The young man with the name reminescent of "Roy McEvoy", Kevin Costner's character in the 1997 movie "Tin Cup", barely looks old enough to shave, and like Roy "Tin Cup" McEvoy, was an unlikely story in his country's open championship.

Ultimately, whether it's fair to Garcia or the eventual winner Harrington or not, the 2007 British Open will be remembered by most for Sergio Garcia's most recent failure to finish what he started. What Garcia needs more than a swing coach, or anything else for that matter, is a sports psychologist such as Dr. Bob Rotella, who was among the people Padraig Harrington thanked in his post British Open comments.

Until Sergio learns to "go boldly in the direction of your dreams" as Henry David Thoreau put it, he will likely still be looking for his first Major victory.