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I'll just go ahead and say it.
Sergio Garcia fascinates me.
Everything about him intrigues me, compels me to want to know more about him.
He is always in the spotlight but rarely because he allows himself to be profiled or written about. More often his career and his life are projected by folks like me who don't actually know that much about him other than what he says in public (which often isn't smart).
On Sunday the fascination continued.
Garcia was able to do something not many other golfers have been able to do of late -- beat Henrik Stenson in a golf tournament. And he did it at the Thailand Golf Championship with his girlfriend caddying for him.
"I knew Henrik was going to make it difficult for me. He's been playing so amazingly great, and he did. He kept hitting good shot after good shot," said Garcia.
"It was great, an amazing week ... obviously being the last week of the year and for having Katharina [Boehm] caddie for me," said Garcia. "I'm very, very happy and I can't wait to go back home to Switzerland and kind of sleep on it a little bit."
The win is Garcia's 26th worldwide (22nd on the PGA Tour, European Tour and Asian Tour).
He is, by definition, a winner. Yet, just like a certain Dallas Cowboys quarterback, he is universally considered a loser. A choke artist, even.
Garcia wins, though. And he wins often, just like Tony Romo.
You know who Romo has a better winning percentage than? Kurt Warner, Michael Vick, Joe Namath and Doug Flutie. He has won more games as a starter than all but 57 other humans in the history of the NFL.
Much of the same with Garcia.
You know how many golfers in history have more European Tour wins than Garcia?
Twenty-four. That's it.
And yet both Romo and Garcia are universally considered failures because the noise of the narrative (maybe what we want the narrative to be) is louder than their actual accomplishments.
Garcia certainly does things, most recently (and maybe most notably) his two-hole meltdown at the end of the 2013 Players Championship, that don't really help that narrative.
But consider this: He has 10 more professional wins than Luke Donald, six more than Ian Poulter, five more than Steve Stricker and 16 more than Matt Kuchar -- all stars who, like Garcia, have never won majors.
Where's the "can't win the big one" narrative with those guys? If it's there it's certainly not as loud as it is with the Spainard.
This is the problem with gifts though.
When you are born with them -- and Garcia was born with a preternatural ability to strike a golf ball as cleanly as anyone on this planet -- we expect so much of you.
With the win in Thailand, Garcia is now No. 10 in the world, a feat so few to play this game have accomplished.
One person who has accomplished it is the one who finished second to Garcia in Thailand, Henrik Stenson.
The $20 million man in 2013 said he emptied the tank but didn't have enough to catch Garcia.
"Congratulations to Sergio on a great week. He played really well."
Maybe it's time to start saying "congratulations to Sergio on a great career."
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