Sergio chases more major consistency

ERIN, Wis. – It took a long time for Sergio Garcia to become a major champion – 74 tries to be exact – but now that he has finally climbed his Everest can the Spaniard find the same motivation to chase it again? It might sound strange to suggest a major winner could lack motivation – but resetting goals once you meet them is not always a simple task. If you spend a lifetime chasing a dream and then it comes true, where do you go next? While you search for the drive to go again, there can be a performance letdown. You can’t blame a guy for kicking up his feet a little. But if you don’t get on top of it quickly you can easily find yourself heading down a path that can be hard to climb back from. The game is littered with players who won one major and then failed to reach the same heights again. Will the Masters champion be different? He certainly hopes so. Since his win at Augusta National, Garcia has been a respectable T30 at the PLAYERS, T20 at the AT&T Byron Nelson and T12 at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. But they are results the man himself was not that pleased with. “My commitment wasn’t as sharp as it was at the Masters,â€� Garcia said of his results since as he lines up for this week’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills. “I don’t know if it was because everything that’s been going on after the win but we have to kind of collect ourselves again and make sure that when we get there on the first tee on Thursday that we’re fully committed, no matter what happens and have as much patience as possible. “It’s easy to kind of take a deep breath and relax but I’m still working out hard. I’m still working on my game as much as I can and as hard as possible.â€� Garcia will attempt to emulate Tiger Woods (2002) and Jordan Spieth (2015) and become just the third player in the last 44 years to win the first two majors of the season. He’s excited by the prospect of being the only player in contention for the grand slam, but says he will continue to get a lot of his motivation from the same well he used prior to his breakthrough win. For Garcia has always tried to measure himself on consistency rather than just out and out wins. In his 316 career PGA TOUR starts he has 10 wins, 95 top 10s and 172 top 25s. He’s missed just 41 cuts. He has made the FedExCup Playoffs in all 10 seasons of its existence and will be there again this season. His European Tour record shows just 11 missed cuts in 120 starts with 93 top 25s, 53 top 10s and 11 wins. “I’ve always said it – wins are important but to me consistency is the most important thing. And I’ve been fortunate to be consistent throughout my whole career,â€� he said. “I want to keep being consistent, keep playing well, keep giving myself chances at winning majors and being in Ryder Cups and all those things. So to me that’s the best motivation possible, to keep that consistency going. And if I want to do that I have to keep working hard. “If I do that then hopefully those lulls – I’m sure that some lows will come – but hopefully they’ll be short ones and we can get over them as quickly as possible.â€� Good friend and fellow Masters winner Adam Scott says Garcia’s game is of such a high caliber, that even if he was to find himself still basking in the winning limelight, he will continue to be a contender. “To achieve something that you’ve been thinking about and dreaming about his entire life and for it to happen, I don’t fault anyone if they want to sit back and smell the roses for a bit,â€� Scott said. “But he’ll be back up there contending in more. And when he does and he gets a taste for it, he has the confidence to know that he can do it. And that’s a nice feeling when you have won a major.â€� Scott expects Garcia might mirror what he was able to do post his win, and perhaps even improve on it. The Australian struggled in the 2013 U.S. Open (T45) after his Masters win but then had eight top-15 finishes in the next nine majors, finishing in the top-5 four times. “My experience was I made a real point of trying to keep my level of play very high. I felt it was finally my time to be up there contending all the time,â€� Scott said. “I continued to work hard with the same kind of attitude and motivation to get my first major and put myself in position to win a couple more but didn’t. “Just like the first one, the second one doesn’t come easy, so Sergio is probably going to go through lots of that.â€� Garcia spent Tuesday getting his first real look at the golf course after choosing to arrive on Monday night. While others have had multiple looks at the new venue the 37-year-old had taken a less is more approach. But it has nothing to do with complacency or over confidence now he’s a major winner. “It’s a different week, and (The Masters) is not going to give me any advantage when we get on the first tee,â€� he admits. “The pressure of trying to do well and give yourself a chance is still the same. I guess inside of you there is a little spot where you’ve accomplished it already. But it doesn’t mean that if I play well and I have a chance on Sunday it’s going to be easier. “Every tournament is tough, is tough to win and majors is even tougher. And U.S. Opens we all know how difficult they are. I’m sure it’s going to be a great challenge again. “I definitely hope that I can keep playing well and win many, many more now that we have our first one. But time will tell us.â€�

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