The ability to perform under pressure is the great immeasurable in sport, and it’s something that all of the greats have in common.
Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler dominated not just with their immense talent. It’s their unshakeable composure when the lights are brightest, the ability to stand tall when others wither, that makes a player truly great.
And on the other hand, it’s given otherwise truly great players blemishes on their distinguished careers. Even the brightest talents can have their careers defined not by their triumphs, but by their collapses. When you hear the name Jordan Spieth, do you think of his major wins or his Masters capitulation?
Some players simply don’t have the clutch gene, and it’s cost them a place among the very best to ever play the game. And according to two-time major winner Tony Jacklin, that’s certainly the case with one LIV Golf star.
Why Tony Jacklin said Sergio Garcia was golf’s ‘biggest underachiever’
Sergio Garcia was one of golf’s most prolific young talents when he burst onto the scene in the late 90s. He was the youngest player to make the cut at a European Tour event. Garcia became the youngest player to win the European Amateur and the youngest to make a Ryder Cup team.
He first made worldwide headlines by going head-to-head with Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship, where he lost to Woods by one stroke. But unfortunately, it set the tone for Garcia’s career for all the wrong reasons.
Garcia gained a reputation as golf’s nearly man, missing out narrowly at countless major championships. It took until the 2017 Masters for him to win one.
That led Jacklin to call Garcia the biggest underachiever in the sport. He said he had the talent to win 10 majors.
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“He’s been one of the best players on the planet for the last 20 years and doesn’t have much to show for it,” Jacklin told Golfweek. “Seve (Ballesteros) had more courage in his little finger than this lad.
“Don’t get me wrong, Sergio has been a prolific winner, but he had the ability to win double-digit majors. (Lee) Trevino once said, ‘God never gave one man everything.’ Garcia would be one that jumps out to me.”
Garcia is the all-time leader in Ryder Cup points and stepped up consistently in those events. He clearly has the nerve, but for whatever reason, it didn’t translate to his individual play.
Sergio Garcia’s biggest major championship collapse
The 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie remains one of the most unexpected collapses in major history.
Entering the final round with a three-shot lead, Garcia seemed destined to finally claim his first major title. He had led the tournament since an opening-round 65, and with Woods out of contention, the Claret Jug was his to lose.
However, Garcia’s tournament began to unfold on Sunday. He had three bogeys in four holes, allowing the field back into the hunt. Padraig Harrington mounted a charge, but appeared to hand the championship back to Garcia after a disastrous double-bogey on the 18th hole on Sunday.
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Standing on the 18th tee, Garcia needed only a par to win. But he pulled a 3-iron into a greenside bunker. He recovered brilliantly to leave himself an eight-foot putt for the title, but in a moment that would haunt him for a decade, his putt lipped out.
That sent The Open to a four-hole playoff between Garcia and Harrington. The Spaniard bogeyed the first playoff hole while Harrington birdied, establishing a two-shot gap that Garcia could never overcome.
This started a narrative that would follow him until his Masters win in 2017.
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