Garcia: From ‘El Niño’ to ‘El Rey’

BARCELONA, Spain – Drawing strength from Spain’s greatest golfers, Sergio Garcia finally managed to win a major.

The winning putt swirled into the cup on the first playoff hole, giving “El Niño” a Masters green jacket and giving the country’s golden generation of sports stars a new life.

The congratulations rolled in, led by a telegram from Spanish King Felipe VI saying “your achievement is a spectacular triumph for Spanish golf.” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy marked the occasion on Twitter.

“Sergio Garcia makes history at the Masters, winning the green jacket,” Rajoy wrote. “Amazing! Pride of Spanish sports.”

But the most important message Garcia received may have come before he took his first swing. Jose Maria Olazabal, who won the Masters in 1994 and 1999, told the 37-year-old Garcia on the eve of the tournament to “be calm and not let things get to me as I had in the past.”

Those words of wisdom set him on his way. And it was Spain’s true master of the clubs that brought him home.

Garcia said he thought of the late Seve Ballesteros while overcoming setbacks that would have derailed his less confident self. It seems to have worked because Garcia overturned a two-shot deficit against Justin Rose to win on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.

Ballesteros became the first European to win the Masters in 1980. He left a lasting mark on golf, and a huge legacy for Garcia to emulate.