Sergio García makes a spectacular birdie on the 17th hole of the Blue Monster, the toughest on the course this Sunday in the final round of LIV Miami, giving himself a chance to win. The task is not easy. He needs another birdie on the 18th, a little monster as challenging as the previous one. Everything depends on the drive. He has no choice but to hit the fairway to give himself a chance. Just as he’s halfway through his backswing, the sound of an approaching buggy is heard. Sergio misses to the right and looks more perplexed than indignant at the area where the sound came from.
In the past, not too long ago, Sergio’s reaction would have been much more intense. He would have sought more explanations and, above all, lamented his luck much more. However, yesterday he accepted it as part of the game, a component of chance. He truly saw it as an accident and didn’t use it as an excuse. “The noise bothered me, but it wasn’t a great drive anyway. It is what it is,” he stated calmly and composedly.
Sergio García pone la magia, pero Leishman se lleva la victoria
We will never know if Sergio would have hit the fairway without the surprise appearance of the car, although the signs pointed more to yes than no. Since the 3rd hole, he had only missed two fairways, on holes 6 and 14. It was by far his best day from the tee. However, rather than playing fortune-teller with what could have happened or not, the truly relevant part of this story is Sergio’s reaction. He accepts what happened as part of the game, focuses on the positives, and looks ahead. It’s this other version of the golfer from Borriol that we’ve been talking about for some time.
“Afterwards, I had a window with the 3-iron and was just a metre short of it being perfect, but it’s okay. I feel I played very well on the back nine. The front nine were solid too, but the back nine were really good. Obviously, I didn’t birdie the 10th hole being right on the edge of the green, and then I had a couple of good chances that just didn’t drop, but I made a great birdie on the 17th to give myself a chance,” he notes. Sergio attempted an open shot from the trees that ended up in the water by a very small margin.
With this in mind, the spirit is very high just hours before flying to Augusta. He knows what the week’s goal is and it’s far above the result. No one is going to take that away from him. “I’m very excited. As I’ve said all year, I want to go there and enjoy the week, no matter what happens. I hope to play very well, make the cut, and have a chance to win. But even if I don’t achieve it, I want to enjoy it because I think I deserve it. Playing 100 majors is no small feat. I want to enjoy every one I have left,” he states.
The most challenging task will be to carry out this plan when things go awry, if that happens. In any case, Sergio is clearer than ever, and more importantly, he has proven to himself that things go much better for him by maintaining this attitude. It’s good news on the eve of the Masters.
