Over the first six competitive holes since his resume-making victory in Augusta, Sergio Garcia seemed still to be nursing a serious glory hangover.
Heavy were the shoulders that wore the Masters green jacket. Garcia spit up three bogeys and a double-bogey right out of the chute Thursday at the Players Championship. How many more holes could he go on like that before Billy Payne showed up to repossess his title?
“I felt like a little bit in chains on Thursday,” he said Saturday, recalling the sensation of his first tournament appearance since the Masters.
“I was thinking, come on, you have to play well after winning the Masters. You have to. You have to. You have to. And I probably put a little bit too much pressure on myself.”
But, having chiseled the quality into Masters lore a month ago, Garcia once more has shown himself a resilient Spaniard. He didn’t use up all his bounce in Georgia.
On Saturday at the Players, he continued repairs on an opening nine-hole 40, shooting a 5-under 67 and putting himself in the middle of an otherwise rather common pot of porridge that is this leaderboard.
It is a diverse assortment poised ahead of Garcia’s three-day total of 5 under par. A real United Nations assembly. You got Americans (J.B. Holmes and Kyle Stanley at 9 under). A South African (Louis Ooosthuizen, 8 under). A Korean (Si Woo Kim, 7 under). An Argentine (Emiliano Grillo, 6 under). And an Englishman (Ian Poulter, 6 under).
A reigning Masters champion somewhere in this mix is certainly most welcome. One who already has one Players championship (2008) as well as two seconds and a third is someone to be taken seriously. Neither Holmes — whose best Players finish is T-6 in 2011 — nor Stanley — T-33 in 2013 — have yet to make any claim yet of ownership here.
Garcia cleared a lot of cobwebs at the end of his Thursday when he aced Infamy Island, also known as the par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass. Just the jolt he needed. For while he did not feel physically rusty after his long post-Masters layoff, “I felt rusty head-wise,” he said.
Finishing strong Thursday and then shooting a solid, if unspectacular 71 on Friday freed him, Garcia said. And allowed him to “play a little bit more like I was laying the week of the Masters.”
Garcia’s third round began and ended with a bogey, but in between there was plenty of sound ball-striking — he hit 14 of 18 greens. The short stick worked, too. Putting from off the green, behind the pin on the par-5 16th, Garcia canned it from 17 feet for a round-defining eagle.
Holmes shot 70 on Saturday to claim a portion of the lead, while Stanley, one of the second-round leaders, held on with an even-par 72.
While the, um, eclectic mix of players rose to contention, golf’s wannabe major proved once more to be a brier patch in the vast landscape of high clover occupied by some of your more noted performers.
World’s No. 1 Dustin Johnson, the stairs successfully child-proofed wherever he is staying this week, continued being no factor at TPC Sawgrass. Where he returned from his Masters household accident with a runner-up finish a week ago, Johnson stands at a distant 2 over here. He shot 74 on Saturday. His best finish in eight previous Players: 28th a year ago.
Jordan Spieth is about as comfortable in these climes as an Inuit. He’s off doing whatever one does after missing his third straight Players cut.
Eight back is Rory McIlroy, unlikely to produce his first top five finish here in eight attempts, killing time before a scheduled MRI on his aching back.
Even those with local cachet were unable to add pizazz to the leaderboard. Your last two Players champs went pfffft. Rickie Fowler lost a ball in the moss draping the trees on No. 18 on the way to a triple bogey 7 and a Saturday 72, even for the tournament. And Jason Day constructed a pair of double bogeys on his way to a 73, which left him at 1 under.
In a rather startling Tech-related development, former Yellow Jacket and 2012 Players Champion Matt Kuchar shot 81 on Saturday, the highest of his 42 career rounds here. Putting two in the water off the tee on No. 14, he took a quintuple-bogey 9 on that par 4.
Such are the many tortures of this sprawling ode to the crosstie wall.
Garcia, at least, owns a shield against what he may face Sunday.
He has had it with him everywhere this past month. On all his TV appearances. On his ceremonial first kick before a Real Madrid-Barcelona soccer game, as 90,000 countrymen chanted his name. (But good taste will prevail and he will not employ it during his July wedding, he said).
And, of course, he has the Masters green jacket with him here.
“Wouldn’t you?” he asked.
“It’s simple. When we get to the Masters next year they’re going to take it away, so I think I’m going to hold on to it as long as I can for this year.”
It is a source of comfort and a reminder of the rewards that come with resilience.
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