He said something similar to this with Peter Kostis on CBS TV and said it again in the press room.

“There’s guys who get a little bit fortunate in majors,” Garcia said. “They manage to get things going their way. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened to me.

“That doesn’t mean I’m not on the right track. I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s just a matter of time.”

While I will not disagree with Garcia that luck has a hand in majors’ fate, it seems like this one really is on Garcia more than the 2007 Open Championship. He made critical mistakes at 16 and 17, and 18 was really just icing on the cake.

After going out in 31, Garcia had all of the momentum on his side. He could have easily posted 65 if he had played his cards right. Instead, he posted 69. Rather than winning by two, he lost by the same margin. Meanwhile, Harrington was steady in the face of that uncertainty.

After the US Open, golf observers were concerned about identifying the player that would assume the position of best golfer other than Tiger Woods. It appeared that there were a number of candidates for the position.

At first, it appeared that Kenny Perry may be the man to take on the task. With two wins in three weeks, Perry looked to be turning back the clock while surging to career heights. But, after skipping the Open Championship to play on the PGA Tour in Milwaukee instead, it appears that Perry has lost some of that momentum.

Then came Anthony Kim. The young American has been having an excellent season, including a win at Tiger’s AT&T National. He had a fantastic effort in his first encounter with links golf, but has been in the middle of the pack recently.

Of course, there have been mentions made of the usual suspects – Garcia, Mickelson, and Vijay Singh come to mind. Despite some success this season for all of them, none has stepped up with real significance in Woods’ absence.

From all of the faces in the crowd, Irishman Padraig Harrington has clearly asserted himself as the man Woods must beat upon his return to competitive golf. First, Harrington defended his Open Championship in almost impossible conditions at Royal Birkdale. Then, on Sunday at the PGA Championship, Harrington was aggressive, clutch, and everything he needed to be to capture his first major championship on American soil.

Making crucial putts on each of the final three holes, Harrington came into the house in 32 strokes and finished with 66. On the last hole, his major championship experience proved invaluable. After driving the ball into a fairway bunker, Harrington chunked his bunker approach into the long, thick rough. With a playable lie, Harrington hit a crisp 7 iron to fifteen feet. If he could make a par, he would almost certainly win the championship. Putting before Sergio Garcia, who was threatening a par of his own that may force a playoff, the Irishman struck a perfect putt right into the heart.

In that moment, Harrington was going through so many emotions. From the look on his face, one had to be shock. Maybe he was shocked that he was again beating Garcia for a major championship. Certainly, the situation must have dawned on him that he had just won consecutive majors. Perhaps even, deep in his head, he realized that he had won his third major championship in his last six tries.

During the course of approximately a month, Harrington went from an Irish hero to a golfing legend. He defended his Open title with one of the most incredible approach shots in history – his 5 wood to the revamped 17^th at Birkdale. Then, he proceeds to start hot and finish hotter at an extremely difficult golf course. In both victories, Harrington demonstrated so many of the same things that we have come to expect from the player most noticeably absent from the proceedings. He showed that he had unwavering confidence, a tremendous eye for strategy, and a pair of steady hands that just seemed to guide the ball to his destiny.

Padraig Harrington elevated his status in a way that no other player could have given the circumstances. He again won a major championship and proved that he is definitely not a fluke. There is a legitimate reason to discuss the Paddy Slam after getting proof positive that this man can win anywhere on any stage. And, upon Woods’ return around the Masters next year, there will be a threat for his next attempt at the single season Grand Slam. In fact, Tiger Woods will have to stop Harrington’s march to owning all four of the game’s most cherished trophies.

On Sunday, the game of golf won by virtue of Paddy Harrington capturing the PGA Championship. A new challenger has emerged to become the best player in the world and it was almost unimaginable one month ago. Even better, fans will be waiting in anticipation to find out if the legend of Padraig Harrington can grow out of the shadow of another icon of the sport.

I happen to be in the camp that Garcia won the thing. No, really, he did. He had an abnormally good week of putting, fairways, and GIRs. Still Furman Bisher disagrees:

I was out of town at another golf event, watching Paul Goydos almost win The Players Championship. He has a better handicap than Hiaasen, and he doesn’t go around writing books about it. I mention Goydos over Sergio Garcia because Sergio won about the way Ernie Els won a tournament awhile ago. Neither won it, somebody else lost it, in the case of the TPC, Goydos. Good-natured, humorous and just recovering his game, as is Hiaasen.

Did Goydos lose it because he is all of the qualities Furman described? Is he referring to Els’ victory at PGA National in the Honda event? I just don’t see it.

Do you think Paul Goydos lost the Players – basically choked?

We seriously have to put out a memo about this myth. Everyone in the media seems to be of the belief that Sergio Garcia has always been this amazing ball striker that just could not putt well enough in each of the last three seasons (until last weekend) to pick up a PGA Tour win. That myth was propagated again by Barker Davis in the Washington Times.

Because while Garcia always has struggled with his putter, he has also always been the finest player on the planet from tee to green.

“I don’t want to be cocky or anything, but when I’m feeling good, I don’t think anybody can hit the ball much better than me, not even Tiger Woods,” Garcia said after leading the Players field in driving accuracy (76.8 percent) and greens in regulation (77.8 percent). “Unfortunately, his short game is still better than mine, and that’s what I have to keep working on. If I keep doing that and believing in myself, I can at least make it difficult for him.”

That is just plain false. Sergio is seeing things through his own lens. Eric Barzeski at the Sand Trap made the same claim about Garcia’s ballstriking in his site’s podcast post-Players. Then he corrected himself and the record for everyone else. Here’s the truth, expressed as a comparison of Tiger Woods and Garcia in 3 important ball striking categories over the last three seasons.

2008 (Driving Accuracy, GIR, Proximity to the Hole):
Sergio: 113, 8, 74
Tiger: 137, 1, 16

2007 (Driving Accuracy, GIR, Proximity to the Hole):
Sergio: 148, 105, 74
Tiger: 152, 1, 3

2006 (Driving Accuracy, GIR, Proximity to the Hole):
Sergio: 129, 37, 93
Tiger: 139, 1, 1

Garcia is no where near Woods when it comes to pertinent ball striking categories. As Barzeski notes, Sergio does put together good weeks, but he is nowhere near consistent. Still, Davis continues.

Garcia is among an elite few who could challenge Woods in next month’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. The longest layout in major history, the San Diego course will measure more than 7,600 yards for USGA’s annual survival-fest. That will add length to the Open’s customary emphasis on accuracy, and nobody boasts a better combination of length and accuracy off the tee than Garcia, who has seen his best major finishes at comparable monsters Medinah (runner-up, 1999 PGA), Bethpage Black (fourth, 2002 U.S. Open) and Carnoustie (runner-up, 2007 British Open).

Davis is off on multiple fronts here. First, Torrey Pines will never play to more than 7600 yards at the Open. Mike Davis of the USGA said so himself this week in an article to preview the Open. He’s the guy that sets up the place.

Davis said the USGA will utilize the variety of tee boxes available to them, resulting in a course that will play “somewhere in the neighborhood of 74 [7,400 yards] and change up to 75 [7,500 yards] and change.” That’s a big neighborhood, notwithstanding the USGA’s benevolence in backing it down somewhat.

It seems, though, that there is selective memory when it comes to discussing monster length major championship layouts. It all starts with the last two Masters, where he missed the cut. He also missed the cut at last two US Opens – monster courses. (He was DQed from Southern Hills in the PGA.) He was 46th at the Masters in 2006. He finished ‘06 with two nice finishes at the Open, by far his best major, and the PGA.

With a more complete picture, it becomes obvious that Garcia certainly does possess the talent to be a major champion. But, he is so inconsistent – except in the Open Championship – that it would be difficult to bet on him or even call him the best player to have not won a major.

This time, the Golf Channel is the culprit. Reporter Casey Bierer had an interview with Sergio Garcia at the Wachovia Championship about Taylormade-adidas. It is convenient to run the interview on the site after Garcia won the Players and pimped out* TMAG on the air to Bob Costas.

Here’s an example of the stunning insights:

Casey / Q:
You have been very vocal about being a big fan of TaylorMade’s metal woods. What do you like so much about them?

Sergio / A:
I think the package is great. They look good, they feel good, they play consistently well. And that consistency is so important. I always feel like I know where the ball is going. It doesn’t always go exactly where I want it to but if it doesn’t I know it is me and not the club. TaylorMade always comes with new ideas and things that can help you get better on your game. Not only us TOUR players, but, you know, also the amateurs. I think the feel…the feel that the TaylorMade metal woods have, it’s just better. You can still work the ball which is always nice for a player like myself, but, I can still really bomb the ball as well. So, you know, I think that whole package of their metal wood line is just fantastic.

I have to tell you that this run of fluff is pretty annoying, especially because it is not even under the guise of providing real insights or tips for the amateur. This is just an out and out advertisement for TMAG. It just seems to have very little journalistic component to it.

* with apologies to David Shuster

As you may or may not know, I am a fan of the 3 and 4 hole playoffs in major championships. I think that they confer a sense of fairness on deciding a major as quickly as possible. (Often times, the USGA’s lengthy playoff is over before it starts, so the thrill is kind of absent.) That’s why I was surprised that the Players Championship decided to have a sudden death playoff…beginning on 17.

Obviously, starting on 17 leaves the very real possibility that the playoff could end right there. It is a very difficult hole for a variety of reasons that you know. As it turns out, the playoff did end on that first hole when the wind took Paul Goydos’ aggressive pitching wedge and ballooned it to drop it about 5 yards shy of being great. Sergio hit a most impressive shot to win the event, though. Who knows if he would have made that five footer for birdie had Goydos hit land with his tee shot.

Still, I find it curious that they go with the sudden death playoff. The PGA Tour wants the Players to be a major so badly. Sudden death playoff is no longer in their collective vocabulary. Why not have them “run the Gauntlet” one more time on 16 through 18? Especially after Beman claimed (through Jimmy Roberts) that he finally named that stretch of holes correctly?

I can see benefits to both approaches, so weigh in: were you ok with a great finish ending so abruptly, or would you have wanted to give Goydos a chance to catch up to Garcia by playing the brutal 18th again?