Jacket or jug?
Sergio Garcia would love to be in the position on Sunday night to starting mulling over whether getting his hands on the most precious item of clothing in golf or The Open championship trophy gave him greater satisfaction.
“It’s difficult to say,” said the Masters winner. “I think they’re both amazing.
“At the moment the green jacket means more, because I have it, but everybody knows how much I love the Open championship.
“And I would love to at least have one of them before I hang up the boots.
“So definitely it’s something that I would like to achieve. And we’re going to give it a shot this week.
“But that’s like saying, who do you love more, your dad or your mum? So it’s a difficult question to answer.”
Garcia was willing to concede that the Open was the tournament which caught his attention as youngster.
“I grew up dreaming of winning all of them,” he said. “But, yes, as a European the Open is the one you relate to probably as the better or the closest, because I remember it in Spain as a kid.
“We couldn’t see the Masters on TV. The Open, you could see it here and there, and also it was on during the day. When you’re 10 years old, your parents don’t allow you to stay until 11 or 12 at night watching TV.
“So, yeah, you do really relate to this one a little bit more.”
Garcia’s emotional maiden major win at Augusta would have been enough on its own to make 2017 a memorable golfing one for Spain.
Now he finds himself looking to complete a hat-trick for his country in consecutive weeks, after Jon Rahm’s success in Ireland a fortnight ago and Rafa Cabrera-Bello’s Scottish Open victory.
“It would be amazing,” he said. “Not only that, but we’ve had Muguruza winning at Wimbledon, too. So Spanish sport is in a good place. It’s been up there for a while. And obviously Rafa (Nadal) winning Roland Garros.
“It’s very exciting to see guys that you’re friendly with and fellow countrymen winning and doing great things. So we’re going to try to keep it going.”
Garcia was overjoyed to be part of the streak of first-time major winners in the spring but now he is hoping that at Royal Birkdale it ends at seven in a row.
“I don’t know why it’s happened but it has been nice to see,” he said. “I think that it’s just one of those waves that happen.
“I would love to stop that trend, like I’m sure a lot of other guys would love to do the same thing. But it shows the quality of golf that everybody plays at right now. It’s a really high level, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve won a major or not, everybody can definitely do it.”
As a rule, Open winners tend to have served their time and that’s a tag which certainly applies to the championship’s serial nearly man.
The fact that he is no longer the best player to have not won a major doesn’t wipe out the anguish of all those second-placed finishes.
“They’re still painful because they’re chances that you wish you would have taken and unfortunately you didn’t,” he said. “It definitely made the Masters more enjoyable though, I would put it that way.
“I’ve always said that consistency has been one of my greatest attributes throughout my career. And of course I could have won more, but I think the consistency I’ve had for the last 18 or 19 years is not that easy to do. And I think some people overlook that.
“I’ve been able to do in a lot of majors and at the Open. Hopefully I can make that even better this week.”
