Garcia's gain may turn into Europe's loss

Sergio Garcia is being hailed here as a golfing sensation, after his marvellous exploits when finishing runner-up to Tiger Woods in the US PGA Championship last Sunday. As US Ryder Cup skipper Ben Crenshaw enthused: "When he hit that shot at 16, he captured America's imagination. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen on a golf course."

All of which happens to be bad news for the European Tour, where he achieved his professional breakthrough with a victory in the Murphy's Irish Open at Druids Glen last month.

The reaction of Medinah galleries will convince Garcia's manager, Jose Marquina, that his client's future has to be in the US. Indeed, Garcia is currently in Denver, preparing for the Sprint International at Castle Pines later this week. If things hadn't gone right for him last weekend, Garcia would have returned to Europe in the hope of securing a Ryder Cup place in the BMW International in Munich. Yet, looking back on his general attitude prior to the commencement of battle at Medinah, he never seemed to doubt his ability to complete the job here.

Much more interesting, however, was the way he overshadowed Woods last Sunday with boyish enthusiasm which the crowds found utterly captivating. "New kid on tee shows grit," proclaimed one of the newspaper headlines. "Spanish teenager interrupts Woods' Sunday stroll," said another.

Equally significant has been the reaction from seasoned professionals. "He's been at me for the last three months, saying how he wants to play me in the Ryder Cup," said Tom Lehman. "And I've reminded him I tend to give Spaniards a pretty tough time and that he'd better watch out." (In the last two Ryder Cup stagings, Lehman beat Seve Ballesteros by 4 and 3 at Oak Hill and Ignacio Garrido by 7 and 6 at Valderrama).

But Garcia's most outrageous outpouring was reserved for Crenshaw. "I got to shake his (Garcia's) hand for the first time at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village earlier this year," said the twice former Masters champion. "He came over and looked at me with that innocent face and said `Mr Crenshaw, this is the first time I meet you. If I play well enough on the US PGA Tour, would you pick me on your Ryder Cup team?'

"He is so endearing. How could you not love this kid?" Television audiences clearly agreed, given record viewing figures which were up 26 per cent on last year, when Vijay Singh captured the title at Sahalee, Seattle.

Crenshaw went on: "What we saw yesterday was so telling for the future. We saw something absolutely electrifying and captivating. I don't think anybody's seen a shot like that (Garcia's second on the 16th). Remember he's coming down the stretch and he's got the root of a tree looking at him and he's trying to save a shot.

"Even his caddie, Jerry Higginbotham, told me later he was dumbfounded, speechless. He said this kid went for the shot knowing that if he goes down into the ground as hard as he could, the clubhead could break off and hit his body or his face. But he blasted the ball with everything he had."

It was truly a shot of shots and the immediate response of Medinah officials has been to place a commemorative plaque on the tree, which is one of 4,161 splendid, arboreal specimens which have been catalogued on the No 3 course. In a way, it was a shot that only a carefree youngster would have played, given its potential for disaster.

Having driven through the fairway at the 452-yard, dog-leg, Garcia's ball came to rest between the roots of a majestic oak. Facing a shot of 189 yards to the flag on an elevated green, the more prudent approach would have been to knock the ball out with a wedge and take his chance on single-putting for a par.

But he went for the shot, with spectacular results. Just before the point of impact, he closed his eyes and turned his head away, for fear the ball might rebound off the tree trunk. His action was reminiscent of the infamous ball-in-the-bottle incident from the 1949 British Open at Royal St George's, where Harry Bradshaw closed his eyes and turned away before smashing ball and bottle with a nine iron.

The Spaniard's challenge, however, was far more demanding. As he explained: "Apart from cutting the ball, I had the problem that on the downswing, I could not hit the first part of the tree (root)." So he had to make a steep approach, while laying the clubface of the six-iron wide open.

As it happened, Woods bogeyed the same hole minutes later, to lose the advantage he had gained when the Spaniard dropped a stroke at the 15th. But despite Garcia's artistry, the shot that really mattered, as far as the destination of the title was concerned, was the eight-foot par-saving putt which Woods sank on the short 17th.

That was the effort of a worthy champion. Still, it must have been somewhat disconcerting to have a 19-year-old push him so hard. Possibly the same way that Johnny Miller felt when, in the British Open at Royal Birkdale in 1976, a 19-year-old Spaniard named Severiano Ballesteros, chased him home.

The same young Spaniard now happens to be Garcia's mentor. As Crenshaw put it: "Everything we thought about golf when we were 19, was encapsulated in that scene of him running after his ball on the 16th." Just so.