When you putt like Sergio Garcia has for the past two decades, you’re bound to try anything. Now that Garcia is in his 40s, it appears he’s reached that point. Early in his second round on Friday, the Spaniard was seen closing his eyes before rolling a 16-foot birdie putt, which he made. It was assumed this was the first time he was trying it, making it all the more shocking that it was working. He finished with a four-under 68, putting him in contention at eight-under heading into the weekend.
But something far more shocking happened after his round. Garcia claimed he had been doing this for three years, including during the biggest victory of his life at the 2017 Masters. Wait, what?
https://twitter.com/StripeShowPod/status/1312034044021010433?s=20
“Would you believe me if I told you I’ve been doing it for about three years?” Garcia asked a reporter, who responded by asking him on what putts does he do it. “Anything,” he responded.
“Usually. I’ve gone on and off, but like Augusta I won it playing with my eyes closed every single putt and some of the other wins, too. I feel like it gives me a little more freedom to feel the stroke instead of kind of – sometimes we get too focused on trying to make it perfect and kind of following with the eyes and everything. So this way I feel like I just feel it and I just let my natural ability kind of take over instead of telling myself what to do.”
We’re not throwing around accusations here, but this seems … odd. Garcia’s been doing this for three years, including during the biggest tournament of the year that has by far the most eyeballs on it and no one noticed until Friday morning at the 2020 Sanderson Farms? It doesn’t add up. But hey, it’s working, and if it continues to, Garcia can tell us all to take a hike. He gained 0.005 strokes putting in his first round and 0.540 in his second, which doesn’t sound like much but for Garcia it’s a LOT. Good for him. If it can work for a notoriously bad putter like Sergio, there’s hope for all of us.
