Masters co-founder Bobby Jones offered a warning: "No putt is short enough to be despised," he once said.
By the time Sergio Garcia arrived at Augusta last week he was largely a forgotten figure. But he had a secret weapon: He was in love again, this time with Angela Akins, 31, a former Golf Channel talent who now wears an engagement ring the size of a satellite dish. Garcia's life as a swinging bachelor has been replaced by a contented domesticity.
Angela was an ankle-breaking point guard who had a handful of scholarship offers until she blew out an ACL, as a senior in high school. She played golf at Texas and is still good enough to engage in spirited matches with her fiance.
Throughout Masters week Angela reinforced what she called "the good energy" by taping inspirational quotes from everyone from Buddha to Audrey Hepburn on the bathroom mirror.
In the past Garcia let Augusta National get into his head as he was "trying to fight against something you can't fight." This time he accepted the vagaries of the wind with an admirable stoicism and ground out 17 pars to go with a lone birdie, cobbling together his third bogey-less round in this, his 19th Masters appearance.
On Sunday, Garcia came out looking more relaxed than any other contender, and thanks to two quick birdies, he built a three-shot lead after five holes.
Garcia's win came in his 74th major championship, the longest any player has ever waited for such a breakthrough.
Here, Jones deserves the final word: "Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots--but you have to play the ball where it lies. The breaks will even themselves up in the long run, if the run is long enough."
Source: Alan Shipnuck, SportsIllustrated, April 17, 2017