He is older now, maybe a step slower but wiser in the ways of the professional golf world, which has truly become a global sport. But after 29 major appearances, there is still something lacking from Sergio Garcia's impressive resume.

A championship.

The 26-year-old Spaniard has a British Amateur title, an impressive 10-3-2 record as a member of the European team in three Ryder Cups (two of them victories) and 17 victories worldwide.

But not one is a major championship.

That’s why there may not be a more appropriate place for Garcia to end his 0-29 professional slump than Medinah Country Club, the suburban Chicago course where the world’s best professional golfers gather for the year’s final major, the 88th PGA Championship, which opens Thursday.

Following his last on-course tune-up, The INTERNATIONAL at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado, Garcia feels his game is ready for Medinah’s rugged No. 3 course, which will measure 7,561 yards, the longest course in major golf history.

“Hopefully, I’ll keep hitting the ball well and see what happens from there,” said Garcia, who finished tied for 29th with 21 points, 13 behind winner Dean Wilson, at The INTERNATIONAL. “Even though I didn’t make any putts, I putted well. Sometimes that’s all you can ask for.”

While Garcia, who has won more than $15 million on the PGA TOUR since turning pro, has put himself into contention in majors before -- he has 11 finishes in the Top 10, including a fifth-place finish in the British Open at Royal Liverpool -- his Achilles’ heel often has been his putter. He was ranked 164th in putting average coming to Colorado.

“It does take a little confidence away when you hit good putts and they don’t go in when you need them,” added Garcia, who has overcome some back problems as well this season. “That’s the way it is and you have to just keep working. I’m just going to keep trying as hard as I can.”

Perhaps he needs to remember when golf used to be fun. When the PGA was last played at Medinah in 1999, Garcia was still in his teens and playing in only his second major after turning pro following the Masters, where he was the low amateur.

“Medinah and Chicago are special places for me,” Garcia said. “It’s where everyone got to know me. I’m hoping I can go out there and put on a good show.”

Similar to his last one at Medinah. Garcia thrilled the Chicago partisans with an opening 66 that gave him the first-round lead at 19, the youngest player ever to lead the PGA since it returned to stroke play in 1958.

On Sunday, he trailed Tiger Woods by two strokes with three to play when his tee shot on the 16th hole came to rest on a root behind a tree. Garcia opened up his stance and the face on his 6-iron and swung, closing his eyes just before impact, preparing himself for the inevitable pain that would never come.

What happened next was perhaps the most vivid celebration of youth ever seen in the game: Garcia running madly through the rough, skipping down the fairway and doing a mid-air scissors kick as he looked to see where his second shot on the 16th hole was headed. It rolled onto the green, allowing Garcia to continue his pursuit of Woods, who eventually won by a stroke over someone who was perceived by some to be his likely future challenger.

The rivalry has never really materialized. Since that 1999 battle, Woods has won 39 PGA TOUR events, including nine majors. Garcia has won just six TOUR events. And twice when they’ve been paired in the final round, Woods has cleaned Garcia’s clock -- in the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black and this year in the British Open at Royal Liverpool.

The 30-year-old Woods, who will be seeking his 12th professional major title this week, feels it’s only a matter of time for a major Garcia breakthrough.

“I’m sure it will be soon,” Woods acknowledged.

For Garcia, that major title can’t come soon enough, so why not this week.

“I’m looking forward to seeing my tree,” he said. “I’d like to finish one (place) better than last time.”

Perhaps, Sergio Garcia’s time has come.