O'Neill: It's time for Garcia to grow up

It remains to be seen whether Sergio Garcia can recover from his latest disappointment — a British Open playoff loss at Carnoustie.

Golf’s history pages are filled with great champions who had near misses and heartbreaking moments to go along with their major championship wins. At the same time, the past can be haunting presence in golf. Close calls and untimely wrecks pile up on a player’s resume, and his psyche. Ask Greg Norman, Phil Mickelson or 1999’s “Carnasty” casualty, Jean Van de Velde.

Some players handle it better than others. Some overcome it, some wind up carrying the burden like a cross. If Garcia was the “Best Player To Never Win A Major” before the 2007 British Open, he is now the BPTNWAM who blew the Open Championship at Carnoustie.

And make no mistake, Garcia clearly fumbled. He had a three-stroke lead when the final round began on Sunday, and he had a six-stroke lead on Padraig Harrington, the eventual champion. He also had Harrington practically gift wrap the Claret Jug when the Irishman pulled a Van de Velde — see what I mean? — and erased a one-stroke lead with a double-bogey on the 72nd hole.

Garcia took the baton and let it slip right through his hands, shooting a final-round 73, missing a 7 ½ foot putt for a championship-winning par on No. 18. Worse, the way Garcia handled the adversity, and the way he has handled adversity in the past, does not suggest it is something he will easily put behind him.

You see, to hear “El Whino” tell it, the gods of golf conspired against him at Carnoustie. To watch his blatantly bad body language and listen to his ridiculous rationalizations, Harrington’s 67 and remarkable playoff rebound were simply a miscarriage of justice.

At least when Mickelson melted down at Winged Foot last year, he was the first to say, “I am so stupid.” But rather than own up to his failings in Scotland, rather than congratulate Harrington, the spitting Spaniard took the road he most frequently travels through disappointing finishes — the lower one.

Garcia, who might be 27 going on 7, focused on things like his tee shot on the second playoff hole that hit the flagstick and caromed 20 feet away. “It’s funny how some guys hit the pin and go to a foot,” he said. “Mine hits the pin and goes 20 feet away.”

It’s also funny how most guys miss the flagstick with that same shot and wind up 20 feet behind the green.

As mentioned, Garcia’s putt on 18 skimmed the edge of the cup but failed to drop. He missed several other chances on Sunday as his belly putter went belly up.  But if you listen to Garcia, who has not won since 2005, he couldn’t have done any better. Asked if it was a particularly frustrating day, Garcia thought otherwise.

“Obviously, you haven’t been watching me much,” Garcia told a reporter. “You only watch the guys who make the putts and get the good breaks and things like that.”

Garcia added that he didn’t “miss a shot in the playoff and (still) shot 1-over.” Presumably, that includes his shot on the first playoff hole, which landed on the uphill slope of a greenside bunker. Apparently, he nutted that baby. Apparently, with any luck at all, that shot bounces out of the bunker, lands softly onto the green and rolls in the hole.

Garcia has been in the final group on a Sunday at a major three times now, without getting it done. In 2002, he finished top-10 in all four majors and he has 13 top-10s in majors overall. But he doesn’t have a first.

He is young, he has plenty of time to change the landscape, and he certainly has the talent. But he’s going to have a tough time dealing with his past if he doesn’t start growing up.

MATCH PLAY MAYHEM
Here is the best argument against having match-play championships. Nine of the top-10 players on the LPGA Tour were eliminated in the first two rounds of the HSBC World Match Play Championship. Case closed.

PLAYER TO WATCH
Jim Furyk will be attempting to become the first player to win back-to-back Canadian Open titles since Jim Ferrier won in 1950-51.

By the way, no Canadian has won his national championship since Pat Fletcher won at Point Grey GC in Vancouver back in 1954.

WIE RETURNS
Michelle Wie, who had to withdraw during the U.S. Women’s Open, complaining of pain in her left wrist, is in the field at the Evian Masters in France. She is paired with one her biggest fans — wink, wink — Morgan Pressel.

PERRY GOOD
Kenny Perry has been on a roll, Over his last five starts, Perry has gone from outside the PGA Tour playoffs for the FedExCup in 152nd place on the FedExCup points list to 69th thanks to five consecutive top-15 finishes. Including ties for third and fifth.

PADDY CAKE
With his victory at Carnoustie, Harrington vaulted from 79th on the FedExCup list to 19th and back into contention for top honors in the playoffs for the FedExCup.

Harrington is a past champion at The Barclays, which is the first stage of the playoffs, and he also has a runner-up finish there.

LIKE A GLOVER
Lucas Glover has moved into 10th place on the U.S. Presidents Cup team points list with John Rollins dropping to 11th. There are only three weeks left to make the team. On the International side, Canadian Mike Weir moved into 17th place following his tie for eighth at the British Open.

NICK AT NIGHT
Former major championship winners Nick Faldo and Wayne Grady will be making their Champions Tour debuts this week at the Senior British Open at Muirfield. Faldo has two British Open titles to his credit at that course, in 1987 and 1992.

By the way, only three players have won both the British Open and the Senior British Open — Gary Player, Bob Charles and Tom Watson.

PRO DEBUT
Daniel Summerhays, who became the first amateur in Nationwide Tour history to win an event with his triumph at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational, has elected to forego his final year at BYU and will make his pro debut this week at the Cox Classic.

BATTLEFIELD PROMO
Nick Flanagan will be looking for his third victory of the season and an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour at the Cox Classic in Omaha. And he will have some karma working for him. Seven players have earned automatic promotions to the bigs since the Nationwide Tour began and, remarkably enough, three of them did so at the Cox Classic.

Chris Smith was the first to do so in 1997. He was followed by Heath Slocum in 2001 and Jason Gore in 2005.

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