Garcia suffers torment of cruel collapse

Published on Monday 23 July 2007 00:05

AMONG the innumerable emotions generated by the Open championship, one of the most gratifying is its consistent debunking of the old dictum that nobody pays any attention to the loser.

As Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia elevated personal jousting to a new level of enthralment down the home straight at Carnoustie, there was never the slightest doubt that the eventual runner-up would be accorded as much affection and commiseration as the winner would acclaim and celebration.

The warmth could hardly have been more deserved. On a day that demanded nerve and concentration of an intensity that would test the courage of a grizzly bear, none among the thousands of aficionados who crowded the paths and crosswalks of the great links would be given cause to modify their deep admiration of both men.

Even Garcia's slight faltering at the 72nd hole, where a bogey 5 ultimately cost him the title that would have confirmed him as one of the great competitors of his generation, could not alter the fact that, over the course of four days, his had been a heroic effort.

The score that transformed the 27-year-old Spaniard from long odds-on favourite - a status he had reached on the back of Harrington's own calamitous six just minutes earlier - to runner-up was not the result of a breakdown. The knowledgeable galleries appreciated that he had played the hole well and had been a little unlucky to see his par putt stop on the left edge of the hole.

It was, however, enough to bring a play-off, raising memories of Jean Van de Velde's similar fate in 1999. If Van de Velde remains a towering monument to misfortune among the millions who witnessed his agonising triple-bogey 7 on the same, punishing test eight years ago, Garcia - and even Harrington - may even supplant him at the top of the list in future tales of disaster at Carnoustie. It is a source of notoriety the unfortunate Frenchman, ill at home in Biarritz, will surely be happy to surrender.

For Garcia, it was another searing disappointment for a man who has been heralded as a certain major championship winner since his days as one of the world's most brilliant amateurs. Few among those who shared his pain yesterday will stop believing that it will happen, but, in these circumstances, echoes of Colin Montgomerie resonate like the chilling screech of the banshee.

Such misgivings over his future as a winner of a major event seemed not to be shared by the irrepressible Garcia. When Harrington rolled in the two-foot putt on the final hole of the play-off, he congratulated the winner and accepted the latter's consoling arm around his shoulders with the wide, bright smile that marks him as one of the game's less troubled souls.

It is possible, of course, that the torment of defeat had been less pronounced because it could have been predicted from around the turn. At that point, Garcia was two-over-par and he would feel the hot breath of the pursuing pack, including Harrington, on his neck.

Indeed, by the time he reached the 13th tee, still a long way from home, he had not only lost the lead, but was two strokes behind Harrington, the Irishman, playing two groups ahead, having eagled the 15th to go to six under for the day and nine under for the tournament.

But the Spaniard not only demonstrated his own fibre, but endeared himself further to the crowd with successive birdies at the 13th and 14th. Garcia did nothing thereafter that would diminish the esteem in which he is held. Instead, he continued to try to play with a flourish, without straying anywhere near foolhardiness.

When he dropped a stroke at the 15th, it was due entirely to his having a cut at the green, some 280 yards distant, with a 4-iron. It seemed an impossible distance, but the last 50 or 60 yards were downhill and Garcia clearly felt that this was no time for caution.

Leaving the approach short and the chip over a bunker 12 feet from the pin, he missed the putt to allow Harrington once again to take the lead. With his hopes resuscitated by Harrington's calamity at the last, he played the hole sensibly, even if his second shot was short and left and landed in a bunker.

The steep face of the trap would have intimidated most golfers, but he lofted the ball into the air and it ended 10 feet from the hole. The putt was struck true and nervelessly, but stayed above ground. Even when it looked as though he had lost the opportunity to secure his greatest triumph, the crowd rose to voice their acclaim.

Afterwards, Garcia was as volatile as anyone has a right to be in such devastating circumstances. Having had the Claret Jug snatched from his hands, his tendency to bemoan some of the bad luck he had during his round of 73 was the natural human reaction to what would be the most depressing experience of his life.

"The thing with me," he said, "is that, whenever I get into this kind of position, it seems that I can't afford a single mistake. Everything has to go just right. Sure, I struggled a little on the front nine, but, of course, I was a little nervous at the start.

"If you're leading the Open championship in the last round and you're not nervous, you might as well be dead. But I felt I played great coming in, when I needed to play well.

"I had an unfortunate bogey on fifteen, but I hit a lot of good shots. And some of the putts looked in and somehow stayed out. Maybe I should write a book on how not to miss a shot on a play-off and still finish one over.

"What am I feeling right now? Emotionally, I'm fine. Padraig played well today, well enough to win. I guess I'll just have to get better."