García has the balls to challenge Augusta

García has the balls to challenge Augusta

John Hopkins finds the Spaniard in a confident mood before the Masters
SERGIO GARCÍA will tackle the Augusta National golf course in this week’s Masters with a new ball and a putting style that he took up only a few weeks ago. García was showing off the ball, one of TaylorMade’s new TP red balls, yesterday morning.

To remind himself to keep his spirits up, García drew a smiling face on the ball next to the red letter O that signifies its type and around the side from where his name, Sergio, is stamped in bold, black letters.

A new ball, the first major championship of the year, a different putting style? Will all this bring him luck at the event where he first competed as the Amateur champion in 1999 and finished 38th? “I hope so,” García said, flashing that famous toothy smile.

Professional golfers change their putting styles regularly, but to see someone as young as García, 26, putting with his left hand below his right in an attempt to hole more putts is a surprise. García began using this technique nearly a month ago when he was frustrated with his lack of success at putting the conventional way for right-handers.

“I talked to my father and we decided to change something,” he said. “I putted very well at Bay Hill, particularly in the first two rounds, and putted well in the first three rounds at The Players. Putting with my left hand below my right is feeling better and better. In fact it is feeling better than it has for some time.”
The world No 6 was speaking at Reynolds Plantation, 50 miles from Atlanta, Georgia, on his way to Augusta. He has not seen the changes that have been made to Augusta National for this year’s event, “though I have heard about them. If I play well, they will favour me, but if I don’t then it is going to be a struggle because it is very, very difficult.

“I like Augusta. It is the kind of course that gets your adrenalin going. It has got a lot of places that get you pumped up and this is what a good course should do. I don’t know whether lengthening it every year is the right way to go, but that is what they have done.

“Driving is a lot more important than it used to be there, and now even more so. Before, hitting an eight-iron from a first cut of rough was difficult, but now hitting a six or a five or a four-iron from the rough is going to be even tougher, so driving accuracy is very important.

And your iron play has to be on. And even if it is, you are going to miss some greens. You are going to make mistakes because the course is so tough. If the course is firm, the greens are the most difficult ones we play on all year.”

www.secretsofputting.com

www.veteran-golfer.com