Still young, Garcia doesn't feel under pressure to win a major  PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent ORLANDO, Fla. -- If you think it's hard to believe that Sergio Garcia is in his ninth year as a professional golfer, then try to imagine how the still-young but ever-wiser Spanish sparkplug feels.  Sergio Garcia was happy to have a few putts fall on Thursday. (Steve Grayson/WireImage)
"It's quite funny," Garcia mused Thursday after his opening 66 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. "I look back and I think ... it feels like I was 19 three years ago, but I've been out here almost nine years now. It feels like three years ago I just started, so it's gone really quickly." Seems no matter how closely you keep an eye on the clock -- and golfers surely do that assiduously -- you can still lose track of time. That sound you might hear in the company of Garcia is not Father Time ticking away, but rather the nagging mother hen of expectation -- in the form of golf aficionados impatiently tapping their feet while waiting for El Nino to bring all the elements of his sterling golf game together and not only win regularly, but also start accumulating major titles. Garcia, who turned professional in 1999, is merely 27 years old but has six PGA TOUR titles -- a nice collection augmented by another 10 international victories. By comparison, the best American 20-something is 29-year-old Ben Curtis, with three wins -- including a British Open crown -- while FedExCup points leader Charles Howell, also 27, has two TOUR triumphs. Just two shots out of the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational after putting together a solid round of five birdies and one bogey on Bay Hill's Champion Course, Garcia hasn't won in the United States since the 2005 Booz Allen Classic, which isn't so long ago unless you have the kind of tools Garcia takes on the course everyday. Garcia isn't feeling any urgency to end the drought but senses it from others. "I haven't won a major yet, but I still feel like I've had a pretty successful career," said Garcia, making only his third TOUR start this year. "I've won a lot of tournaments all over the world, and won quite a good amount of tournaments here in the U.S. It seemed like it was never good enough for you guys (in the media). I don't know; I guess I don't really focus much on if there's pressure on me or not." If there is any pressure, it might come from within, and it certainly can be coming from other young players who are moving up the golf rankings. Geoff Ogilvy, Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey and Adam Scott all have made their in-roads. Garcia, who is ranked behind all of them at No. 14 in the world, has noticed how the landscape has changed, but doesn't lament the view at the top being more obscured. "It's great to see young guys coming up and playing better and raising the level of the game," he said. "You know, I can only keep trying to get better and doing my little part, and at the end of the day, that's all I can do. There's a lot of young guys who are playing at a very good level at the moment." Lest anyone forget, Garcia still is one of them, and he enjoyed a rather stress-free day at Palmer's Bay Hill Club. El Nino missed only two fairways and three greens, and gave himself plenty of good looks at birdie. His average approach distance to the pin was about 24 feet. Unfortunately, he made nothing over 9 feet. "I hit some good putts that went in and some other that felt like they should have gone in and didn't," he said. He wasn't complaining. His 66 represented his 16th sub-par score at Bay Hill, where he has finished in the top 10 in four of seven appearances. "I guess I like the course. I enjoy his event," Garcia said. "I feel pretty good on this golf course. Usually it blows a little bit, so I've always enjoyed playing in the wind. I just feel pretty good around here. "Anything that premiums accuracy off the tee, I think it's great. I've always said it; I enjoy the tournaments where the winning score is somewhere between 5 and 6 under and maybe 12 (under). Those, to me, are the best challenges for us, because you have to play well. It's not just a putting contest. It's nice to see the courses shaped up this way." The courses have shaped up this way for several weeks now. PGA TOUR tests have been consistently more difficult, particularly during the Florida Swing. Garcia just smiled at that observation. "Who cares? The game was not meant to be easy." It never has been -- as time has shown. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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