The whole place is inspirational
The whole place is inspirational.”
If Spanish golf has a spiritual second home in America it must be at Augusta National. Where the thick rough of other championship courses in the States strangles the genius of their golfers, Augusta’s beauty and wide-open fairways provide the perfect stage to show off their gifts. “There is a special feeling at Augusta, without a doubt,” said Jose Maria Olazabal, who returns as the defending Masters champion this week “No other course can compare. You have the azaleas, the pine trees, it’s absolutely beautiful. The whole place is inspirational.”
Seve Ballesteros, then the youngest Masters champion until Tiger Woods won at 21 three years ago, started Spain’s, and Europe’s, love affair at Augusta in 1980. Seve added another Green Jacket three years later, although Spain hardly noticed. Olazabal only saw pictures of Ballesteros’s first victory when playing in a charity match at Seve’s home course of Pedreña in the mid-80s.When Olazabal won in 1994, it was at last on television and Ollie came home to an audience with King Juan Carlos A year ago, there was a double celebration.
Olazabal, the champion again, could not contain the tears as he recalled the days he feared a foot injury would end hiscareer. Sergio Garcia could not contain his smiles as he took the low amateur honours and looked forward to a professional career.To the 19-year-old, it was all good fun. “El Niño”, as he was dubbed as a junior champion in Valencia, would keep on having fun in an extraordinary rookie season. He won in Ireland and Germany, finished runner-up to Woods in an unforgettable final round of the USPGA and contributed excitingly, and excitedly, to Europe’s narrow defeat at the Ryder Cup. The Kid was a breath of fresh air in a stuffy game and a natural rival to the game’s best player, Woods, himself only 24.The pair will meet in a head-to-head match, the “Battle of Bighorn”, on prime-time network television in the United States this August. Garcia was the obvious replacement for David Duval, whose match with Woods last year produced few thrills.
But so far in 2000, Garcia, now 20, has few moments to smile about “Second seasonitis”, it is knows as on tour. Last week, he practised at the Golf Club of Georgia on the outskirts of Atlanta, after missing the cut at the Players Championship at Sawgrass following an opening 82. It was a performance, on a severely testing golf course, that was reminiscent of his first-round 89 in the Open at Carnoustie.After the second round, Garcia fired his caddie, Fanny Sunesson, who split from Nick Faldo after 10 years to take the job. They lasted only six tournaments and the relationship clearly did not work. While Garcia’s dismissal of Jerry Higginbotham, Mark O’Meara’s old bagman, at the end of last year was understandable – the American was involved in a fight in a bar at the Ryder Cup – Sunesson is one of the most conscientious and hard working caddies on the tour.”She did not feel appreciated,” said Fred Funk, a friend of the Swede who has engaged her for the rest of the season.