El Nino blows cold while he goes back to the basics

Golf: The other day, Tiger Woods was asked what constituted a slump. "I guess," replied Woods, "that it is when you completely lose your game."

Which is not something that can be levelled at the world number one - just yet. However, the same can not be said for Sergio Garcia, once viewed as the player most likely to go shoulder-to-shoulder with Woods coming down the stretch in a major.

For Garcia, things are not so good these days. In fact, the last time Garcia was seen in Chicago - in the US PGA championship at Medinah in 1999 - he was high-stepping his way into what seemed to be the making of a new rivalry with Woods that would match the ones of old that involved Bobby Jones with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan with Sam Snead, and Jack Nicklaus with Arnold Palmer.

What has gone wrong? Garcia, only 23, is a pale shadow of his former self; and he is most definitely in a slump. The Spaniard has failed to make the cut in five of his last six tournaments on the US Tour - ironically, the only time he survived into the weekend was in the season's first major, the US Masters, when he finished tied-28th - while he did manage to make the cut when he returned briefly to the European Tour to play the Spanish Open. He finished tied-19th on that occasion.

The reason for Garcia's transformation from contender to pretender is that he is undergoing a major overhaul to his swing. The changes are having a dramatic effect: once, he was among the most accurate drivers on the US Tour; now, he is hitting only 57 per cent of fairways. The troubles are also affecting his putting, where he ranks 135th.

"I think it is getting better," insisted Garcia. "I'm not hitting as many of those loose shots as I was before, mainly because I don't have to think about it so much. You just have to be patient and just wait until the right time."

The timing of Garcia's decision to make the drastic step to overhaul his swing in one fell swoop may seem strange when you consider that he was the only player to finish in the top-10 in all four of last year's majors.

Outwardly, those results suggested he didn't need such surgery; but Garcia knew that he had to change if he was to win a major.

"It just had to be done. I'm getting stronger and older and I don't need as much latitude to hit the ball so far. We're always trying to find consistency," said Garcia, who works with his father, Victor, himself a professional golfer.

Woods understands Garcia's reasoning. "I haven't seen him hit a ball in a while, but obviously when you're working on things like that out there you're going to lose a little bit of confidence. That's just natural. It's a matter of if you're showing progress."

And Garcia is undergoing the changes, and willing to accept the consequences for the time being, so that ultimately he can form that rivalry with Woods.

"I'm going through all these little changes to try to become better and more consistent, week in and week out. I don't know when that's going to happen, but I'm confident about it. We'll see."

If it doesn't work this week, Garcia won't panic. His plan is a long-term one, one designed to ensure he is linked in golfing history with Woods; just as we all expected it to happen when he chased Woods down the stretch at Medinah.