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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Anybody know the Spanish translation for mojo?
Sergio Garcia is seeking it.
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| Sergio Garcia rolls a putt on the 18th green at TPC Sawgrass. (AP) |
In fact, a player who has never been one for reflection or backward glances over his shoulder is looking to the rear in an attempt to recapture his former glory.
A few weeks back, Garcia reached into his growing bag of short-stick rejects and pulled out a putter he used in 2000, back when he had been cast as the likely successor to the dominance of Tiger Woods.
It obviously hasn't worked out that way, exactly, thanks in great measure to his oft-chronicled skirmishes with his putter. Finally, Garcia recently reverted to an old friend, seeking to squeeze a few more moments of magic from it.
"Just trying to get those good sensations from the past when I was comfortable with my putting," he said.
Garcia was sensational and then some Thursday, when he fired a flashback 6-under 66 to take the first-round lead in the Players Championship at daunting TPC Sawgrass.
Both time and a player's reputation can pass quickly on the tour, and it feels like forever since Garcia was a steady threat at meaningful events. Over the recent past, has there been a household name who, at age 28, has seemed older with regard to battles scars and a scorched soul?
"I think it's no secret to anybody that he's been struggling with his putting for a little while, but as soon as he gets it right, we all know he's going to be winning," said Ian Poulter, Garcia's former Ryder Cup teammate. "I know he's working hard, and I'm sure he'll be in the winner's circle as soon as he gets it right. It may be this week."
Such a result would be both popular and largely unexpected. It has been such a long dark stretch -- three years to be exact -- since Garcia last won on either the European or PGA circuits that he's now considered more of an oddity than a prodigy.
Watching Garcia putt over the past few seasons has been like going to a NASCAR track and waiting for the crash. It's pretty darned likely it's going to happen, and when it does for Garcia, a HANS device isn't going to stop the hurt.
Once a player who putted with little fear, Garcia had grown so technical with his stroke, you could almost see him going down a mental checklist: Toes parallel to the ball, eyes positioned properly, shoulders square, left-hand grip firm but loose, putter perpendicular to the hole ... and the ball often missed the hole completely anyway.
