He has the consolation of having won what is known as ‘the fifth major’ (The Players Championship), but Sergio Garcia would love nothing more than to win a real major. Seventh in the world ranking and twice second this year on the American Tour, perhaps the time has come.
A lot has happened since 1999, when he made headlines all over the world when he disputed the victory in the US PGA with none other than Tiger Woods himself. Sergio, with 19 years behind him, was still the Kid. He lost the big one by a measly stroke.
Three other times he came very close to victory in the Grand Slam, finishing second twice in the British Open (2007 and 2014) and once in the US PGA (2008). His other sixteen top-10 finishes include third places at the US PGA (2006) and the US Open (2005).
The impulsive player from Borriol is back in the limelight after his second place at The Players, in May, in a season in which he has added three top-5, being also second in the CIMB Classic and fourth in the Northern Trust Open.
In addition to entering the Olympus of the winners of a major, another incentive for the Spaniard is to continue climbing positions in the world ranking. At the end of May he was seventh.
In that overall ranking, which in April marked his 1,000th week (since 1996), Sergio has spent more than 380 weeks in the top-10.
If we do the math since the first time he broke into the top-10, on January 16, 2000, it turns out that the Spanish player has been (until May of this year) in the top ten 386 out of 698 weeks, or in other words, almost 55 percent of his career, more than one out of every two weeks.
A thousand weeks in the world ranking is a lot. These are Sergio’s most significant dates during this long and fruitful career:
– July 11, 1999: enters for the first time in the top 100 of the world ranking… and has never left again.
– August 15, 1999: he enters the top 50 of the world ranking for the first time… since then he was only out for fifty weeks.
– January 16, 2000: enters for the first time in the top 10 of the world ranking.
– June 24, 2001: It enters for the first time in the top 5 of the ranking. In that position it reached 118 weeks.
– August 9, 2008: Places second for the first time, his best ranking. Holds the position for eighteen weeks.
The current best Spanish player has reached 111 consecutive weeks (his best streak) in the world top-10.
To better understand Garcia’s evolution in the ranking – he now has 69 consecutive weeks among the top ten on the planet – here is a look at the position Sergio occupied each time he reached a hundredth consecutive time in the world ranking:
– Week 100 (November 30, 1997): 852º.
– Week 200 (October 31, 1999): 14º.
– Week 300 (October 7, 2001): 6º.
– Week 400 (September 7, 2003): 17º.
– Week 500 (August 7, 2005): 6º.
– Week 600 (July 15, 2007): 7º.
– Week 700 (June 14, 2009): 4º.
– Week 800 (May 15, 2011): 73º.
– Week 900 (April 21, 2013): 14º.
– Week 1,000 (March 29, 2015): 7th
With his eight victories in the American Tour, his eleven in the European Tour and four in the Asian Tour, Sergio Garcia, at 35 years of age, is confident that soon his ‘big’ dream will become a reality.
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