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 The last we saw Sergio Garcia, the 29-year-old Spaniard with a penchant for speaking his mind was looking disinterested if not downright disgusted as he wallowed his way around Quail Hollow Club.
Sergio shot an unflattering 78 to miss the cut Friday, and he didn't need to discuss his round with the media once he finished in order to convey how he was feeling. His body language said it all. Instead of looking like a multi-millionaire with a world of talent, his gait resembled that of an undergraduate trudging to an 8 a.m. Philosophy lecture they'd put off until second semester of senior year after quarter draft night.
My suspicisions were all but confirmed on Tuesday as Sergio confessed his unhappiness at his PLAYERS pre-tournament press conference.
"I am not feeling 100 percent with my game at the moment and it shows," he said. "I'm just not having a great time on the course.
"It's one of those stages in your life, in your career, that you've got to get through, and sometimes it unfortunately happens. But it will go by and it will be fine."
Jumping to conclusions on the basis of speculation be damned, but I don't think Sergio is in the field this week if he wasn't on the hook to defend what appeared to be a breakthrough victory last year at TPC Sawgrass. Not the way he looked last week. I think El Nino wants a break right now, at least until he is subjected to the masses at Bethpage Black, where the New York crowd heckled him for his excessive re-gripping at the 2002 U.S. Open.
Hiding this week was not an option, not as defending champion at the PGA Tour's richest tournament. In his own mind, this might not be a career crossroads, but like it or not that's what it's becoming. How Sergio performs this week will go a long way in proving whether or not he has the moxy and gumption to shake off his critics and his major championship demons. Not to mention his widely-recognized tendency to suffer from verbal diarrhea, which is a likely cause of his bad mood and poor play of late.
It bears repeating how we arrived at this moment in a career that was labeled as a can't miss in 1999 when Sergio took Tiger to the wire at the 1999 PGA Championship, displaying his all-world talent when he found the green with his eyes closed up against a tree .
Sergio's mental toughness is at the root of his failures. Early in his career, his inability to swing without going through a series of regrips was a difficult obstacle to overcome, but he eventually did.
His poor performance with the media has made him look like a sore loser on many occassions, including his obvious disdain for the American's celebration at the 1999 Ryder Cup, his critcism of officials at the 2002 U.S. Open, blaming supernatural forces for his collapse at the 2007 British Open and then his latest gaffe at the Masters where he criticized America's most beloved golf course.
What was said at Augusta could follow him forever; Fuzzy Zoeller once suggested a young black golfer serve fried chicken at his Champions Diner and he hasn't been able to live it down to this day.
On the course, Sergio's ballstriking has always been tremendous, and he doesn't suffer from the pulls and hooks the plague Tiger off the tee. It's on the green, with putter in hand when Sergio's concentration fails him.
His nervous stroke is behind his 2007 Open Championship loss, as it was the main reason for his failure at the 2008 PGA championship. This week he's going with a longer, heavier putter in hopes of improving his short game.
The missed opportunities, mismanaged media dealings and the resulting wave of criticism those happings exposed him to are completely killing Sergio's spirit and sucking the fun out of the game.
On the eve of his PLAYERS defense, witty and wordy attacks are flying in from every direction, bringing those unpleasant memories into focus.
A Chicago Tribune columnist suggested that Garcia stop whining, and start playing .
"Sergio Garcia has a most unusual handicap, one that can't be represented by a number," wrote Teddy Greenstein. "He plays with his foot stuck in his mouth."
Matthew DeBord of the Huffington Post, a site better known for its political commentary, said of Garcia, "He's got some Jekyll and Hyde in him: ebullient one day, a tortured head case the next."
The UK's Daily Mail featured a column by Derek Lawrenson who asked his readers, "Is there a more nauseating sound in golf than Garcia being interviwed after events have not gone to plan."
Odds are that Sergio doesn't sit down to a banana pancake breakfast and pour over his own press clippings, but he probably knows unkind stories are being written.
There are plenty of detractors to answer, and many a formidable foe to vanquish this week on one of golf's most complex and challenging courses. Sergio needs something good to happen, and it would better if it happened this week. Winning the 2008 PLAYERS Championship was the biggest win of his career, defending his title could save it.
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