by Chris Jones

Created on: September 07, 2008

Sergio Garcia is undoubtedly one of the best golfers of his generation. He has followed in the footsteps of two other magnificent Spanish players in Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.

He has the same free spirit and outstanding talent of the other two but in what is a carer already spanning many years, Garcia has yet to win one of the majors he is arguably the best current player yet to win one (though Colin Montgomerie might want to chime in at this point) with that dubious honour previously belonging to Padraig Harrington and before him, Phil Mickelson.

Quite simply, Garcia is a genius with a gold club in his hand. It's not like Garcia hasn't been in position to win a major either. He was virtually handed the 2007 Open championship on a plate by the nerves of Harrington only to hand that plate back to Harrington and settling for second. A year on and look what Harrington has achieved. Two more major wins under his belt and he is flying.

Sergio always seems to be in contention and has finished second or third on numerous occasions so what is missing ? Is it just rank bad luck ? Does his temperament let him down ? Is he a bottler ?

The evidence on the face of it seems to suggest that when it comes to the crunch, Garcia is just found wanting and the pressure and heat is too much for him to get over the finish line in front. There seems to be more to it than that when you dig beneath the surface.

If Garcia is a bottler, how can you explain the fact that the flamboyant Spaniard is a stalwart of the European success at the Ryder Cup in recent years ? He has been a rock and cornerstone to the success story and has a wonderful record in the event. There appears to be even greater pressure in the Ryder Cup than in the majors and yet Garcia thrives on it and performs so well. He will once again be one of the leading European lights when the cup is fought for once again in a couple of weeks at Valhalla. Of course, there is only one singles match in each Ryder Cup and there is a marked difference to individual pressure and team pressure so perhaps that goes a little way to explain it.

You could also argue that perhaps Garcia's best chances have gone. With no Tiger Woods around for the last couple of majors, Garcia had an ideal opportunity to land one of the majors. With Tiger due to return next year (assuming he gets back to his phenomenally high levels once more, then Garcia has one more really tough opponent to beat.

Having said all that, when you have a rare special talent like Garcia's, it really should be just a matter of time before he manages to cross the line first in one of the big majors. Once he does lay that bogey and shrug off that unwanted tag, I think you will find that one will turn into two and three.

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