Sergio

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Sergio Garcia was born in Borriol, in the Castellon province in eastern Spain, in January 1980. By the age of three he was playing golf under the expert eye of his father, Victor, who was a club professional.

At the age of 15, he was the youngest player to make the cut at a European Tour event, the Turespana Open Mediterrania. In that same year, he was the youngest European amateur champion.

Two years later he won the Catalan Open, and in 1998 he won the UK Amateur Championship and made the last four in the US Amateur.

In 1999, still just 19, he was the low amateur at the Masters, after which he turned professional. And in just his sixth start as a pro, he won the Irish Open.

With his fearless, committed approach on course, he was widely seen as a natural successor to Spanish trailblazers Seve Ballesteros and Jose-Maria Olazabal.

Nothing epitomized Sergio Garcia’s refreshingly upbeat approach to golf more than his shootout with Tiger Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship, only his second Major championship as a pro.

With the tension at its highest on the final day, he played an incredible shot to lash his ball from beside a tree trunk all the way to the 16th green – memorably sprinting after the ball to see the result.

Garcia finished second to Tiger by a single stroke, and it seemed inevitable that Majors glory would soon follow. But, despite another 22 top-10 finishes during his career, he has entered the winner’s circle at the Majors just once so far. 

In 2002, he achieved the rare feat of finishing in the top 10 at all four Majors, but the closest he came to winning was a fourth place at the US Open.

He went agonizingly close to winning the British Open in 2007, when he led throughout and held a four-shot advantage early in the final round. But a string of bogeys condemned him to a playoff against Padraig Harrington, which he lost by a single shot.

Harrington would be his nemesis again the following year at the PGA Championship, when Garcia was again overhauled late on and had to settle for second place.

Throughout the first decade of the century, Garcia was one of golf’s nearly men in the sport’s biggest championships. Away from the Majors, however, he was a regular winner in the USA, Europe, and beyond.

Perhaps a clue to his struggles in the Majors came when he was asked in 2024 what he would tell his 20-year-old self. “To try to enjoy it, to be a little nicer to himself than I was. Accept things a little bit better.”

But, he added, it was good for that 20-year-old to learn because “that’s the only way you grow up… it’s been a fun ride”.

Sergio Garcia was 37 years old, and playing in his 74th Major, when he finally made the breakthrough and added his name to the Majors’ roll of honor.

In the 2017 Masters, he shared the lead at halfway and after the third round. But he had to battle back from two shots down on the final day to tie with England’s Justin Rose. Garcia had a putt to win on the 18th but missed from about three feet.

But it was a different story on the same hole in the playoff just a few minutes later. While Rose missed a par putt, Garcia calmly rolled his ball in for a birdie.

He became the third Spaniard to don a Green Jacket, following in the illustrious footsteps of both Seve Ballesteros and Jose-Maria Olazabal – and he did it on what would have been Seve’s 60th birthday.

Garcia admitted at the time: “I don’t feel any different. I’m obviously thrilled about what has happened, but I’m still the same goofy guy, so that’s not going to change.

“Sure, there were times when I wondered if I was ever going to win one of these things. I’ve had so many good chances, and either I lost them or someone has done something extraordinary to beat me, so it has crossed my mind a few times that it might never happen.

“But lately, for whatever reason, maybe it’s to do with age, I’ve been thinking a little bit more positively about everything.”

Nobody who saw Sergio Garcia compete in 11 Ryder Cups would be surprised by the way he embraced the team concept of LIV Golf.

Garcia holds the all-time record for the most points scored in the event, 28.5. Even in 2021, when he was part of a European team thumped emphatically by the USA, Garcia was his side’s second top scorer after fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm.

Garcia summed up his attitude to the Ryder Cup, which puts such incredible pressure on its participants, when he said: “I think that I have proved myself over and over.

“The only thing I can do out there is when I get called upon, just do my best, do what I do, do what I’ve always done here at Ryder Cups – and that’s everything.”

Garcia missed out on selection for the 2023 event, the first he missed since 1999, but you would not bet against a future captain calling on him to provide another sprinkling of his irresistible magic.

Even in his mid-forties, when Sergio Garcia speaks about LIV Golf there are still strong echoes of the youthful exuberance that was his forte early in his career.

Garcia signed a LIV contract in 2022 and finished in the top 10 of the individual standings in that inaugural season. He was 17th in 2023, with the highlight being a second place in Singapore.

He earned his first individual LIV Golf win in 2024 with victory at Valderrama, the course he enjoys playing more than any other in the world.

By the end of the season he was third in the overall individual standings, behind only Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann.

“As you get older, your body doesn’t move the same way,” said Garcia. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t play good golf.”

Looking back over his career in 2024, he added: “I feel my best golf was 2008, and then 2017 was a very solid year. This year I’ve played some of my best golf since then.”

He remains proud of his achievements in 2024, when that win in Andalucia was complemented by three second places. “It’s been a solid, consistent season. To play as well and consistently as I have and to finish in the top 10 would have been a great year, so to finish in the top three makes it even better.”

“There is nothing more important to me than my family and friends,” says Sergio Garcia.

In 2017, he married Angela Akins, a former Golf Channel reporter who comes from a sporting family. As well as being a top golfer at the University of Texas, her father Marty was a college quarter-back for the same university’s Longhorns. Her cousin Drew Brees, also a quarter-back, led the New Orleans Saints to Super Bowl glory early in 2010.

The couple have two children. Daughter Azalea, born in 2018, is named after the flower most closely associated with Augusta, and her brother Enzo was born in 2020.

Garcia is a keen all-round sports enthusiast. In 2020, he featured in a semi-pro doubles tennis tournament, while he is also a devoted supporter of soccer side Real Madrid.

He was also there to show his support when the University of Texas volleyball team won its second successive NCAA volleyball championship in 2023.

Sergio Garcia has never been afraid to chop and change the clubs in his bag. He played with TaylorMade clubs for 15 years up to 2017, then switched to Callaway – before re-signing for TaylorMade in 2021.

He uses clubs from various manufacturers right through his bag and you should never be surprised to see Garcia playing with a new putter at any time.

Garcia has most recently been playing with a TaylorMade Qi10 driver, with other woods and a three-iron from the same company. His other irons are from the TaylorMade P7MB range.

His wedges are from the Titleist Vokey selection, while the numerous varieties of putter Garcia has been using include LAB Golf Mezz Max, Golfyr The Maker, and a Never Compromise model.

Sergio Garcia has spent more than 450 weeks in the top 10 of the official world rankings during his career. In that time he has banked more than $45million in earnings through his play on the top tours, and another $11.5million from his exploits in the Majors.

By the end of 2024, he had earned more than $33.5million during his time with LIV Golf, including $4million for his third place in the overall individual standings for that season.

Over the years his net worth has been boosted by commercial deals with the likes of adidas, TaylorMade, and Callaway. For more than two decades, he has been a brand ambassador for Swiss luxury watchmaker Omega.

He is also backed by UBS and by golf sunglasses brand Goodr. Fireballs captain Garcia also worked with golf clothing company Stuburt to design the team’s apparel for 2024 and beyond.

Always a fan of brightly colored on-course clothing, don’t be shocked to see Garcia wearing red pants during play.

One of the moments that gave Sergio Garcia the most cause for satisfaction in 2024 was the sight of two Spaniards in the top three of the overall LIV Golf individual standings. Jon Rahm was in first place, with Garcia in third – and for good measure, Spanish speaker Joaquin Niemann of Chile finished second.

Garcia wants to see the next wave of Spanish golfers coming through to follow his exploits and to maintain the nation’s proud tradition that stretches back to the arrival of Seve Ballesteros on the world stage in the late 1970s.

He may have mellowed with the passing of the years, but there is no doubting that his appetite for golf and more success is as keen as ever.

As he looks forward to the 2025 LIV Golf season, Garcia says: “I’m excited about it. We have a solid team, and we’re just trying to make the team better and better.”