Spain has produced a long line of excellent golfers, including the great Seve Ballesteros. Sergio Garcia joined the ranks of great Spanish golfers after an outstanding amateur golfer. After joining the professional ranks, Sergio spent more than 300 weeks in the top ten of the golf world rankings between 2000 and 2009 and over 450 weeks in total.
Sergio Garcia has carried the nickname of “El Niño” (the child) from the age of fourteen, and after finishing runner-up to Tiger Woods after the 1999 US PGA tournament, he expressed his desire to be known as Sergio and not by his nickname.
After being introduced to golf by his club professional father at the age of three, Sergio won his first club championship at the age of twelve.
He made his first cut in a professional tournament as a fourteen-year-old amateur at the 1995 Turespaña Open Mediterranea on the European Tour.
This impressive start to his career was followed up by a win in the 1997 Catalan Open while still registered as an amateur.
Sergio Garcia clubs have varied over the years, and he has struggled to settle on a specific brand. TaylorMade was his club of choice for the first fifteen years of his professional career before signing with Callaway and later returning to the TaylorMade stable.
Sergio Garcia – What’s In The Bag
Golfer Profile
Height
He measures in at five feet ten inches (1.78 m) and weighing in at 180 pounds (82 kilograms).
D.O.B
Sergio García Fernández (nicknamed El Niño) was born on January 9 1980 in the town of Borriol, Castellón, Spain, which is still his residence. Furthermore, Sergio maintains a residence in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and Orlando, Florida.
History
After a successful amateur career, Sergio turned professional in 1999, making an impact in his second major tournament as a professional after ending up as the runner-up to Tiger Woods at the US PGA Championship.
It took Sergio Garcia seventy-four major tournaments before he could shed the tag as the best golfer not to win a major when he won his only major to date, winning the 2017 Masters tournament.
Some Interesting Facts About Sergio
Although Sergio had an incredibly successful amateur career and made a great start to his professional career, he has experienced many setbacks and has gone through periods of uncertainty.
Between 2001 and 2004, Sergio missed the cut in five of the sixteen major tournaments while having six top-ten finishes.
In this period, Sergio developed uncertainty regarding his swing and often spent an inordinate amount of time waggling his club over the golf ball in an attempt to calm down. This had the opposite effect, and he tended to tighten his grip during this delay.
After taking a break from golf between 2009 and 2010 due to a form slump and problems experienced with his putting, Sergio returned late in 2010 after changing his putting grip.
Fortunately, it is not all doom and gloom as Sergio returned to his best form in winning the 2020 Sanderson Farms Championship after admitting that he has been putting with his eyes closed on occasion. This win made Sergio one of the elite players to have won a professional tournament in three decades.
To fulfill the promise shown in his early career, Sergio reached the number two spot in the official golf world rankings on November 10, 2008.
What’s In The Bag?
After returning to the Taylormade stable after a short period with Callaway, Sergio now sports;
Driver – A 9.0-degree TaylorMade SIM driver with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6X shaft.
Fairway Woods – He currently has a fourteen-degree TaylorMade SIM Rocket 3 fairway wood with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft and a nineteen-degree TaylorMade SIM five-wood with Fujikura Ventus Black 8X shaft.
Hybrids – He doesn’t carry any hybrids in his bag.
Irons – All the irons in the bag, from three-iron through nine-iron and pitching wedge, are TaylorMade P750 with Nippon NS Pro Modus 3 Tour 130 X shafts.
Wedges – The wedges in Sergio’s bag consist of a fifty-two-degree Titleist Vokey SM8 wedge, a fifty-eight-degree Titleist Vokey Wedge Works BV Proto 2020, all with Nippon Pro Modus3 Tour 130 X shafts.
Putters – After many putting struggles, Sergio has settled on a Scotty Cameron Phantom X putter.
Shoes – As an Adidas ambassador, Sergio wears Adidas shoes.
Gloves – Adidas gloves but he is not limited to a specific model.
Ball – Rounding off Sergio’s equipment list is the TaylorMade TP5x golf ball.
Prediction
Considering the trials and tribulations that Sergio experienced over his career and the fighting spirit he has shown to come back and bag a win in 2020, Sergio is not favored to reach the top-ten of the FedEx Cup series in 2021, but he is sure to make the playoffs up to and including the BMW championship.
Sergio had a poor run at the FedEx but never count him out for 2022, he is always super competitive and will give the best a run for there money this upcoming season!
References
- PGA, https://www.pga.com/
