2014 Report Card: World Number Three Sergio Garcia

By Les Bailey | Oct 3, 2014

Sep 26, 2014; Auchterarder, Perthshire, SCT; European golfer Sergio Garcia lines up a putt on the 17th green during day one of the 2014 Ryder Cup at The Gleneagles Hotel-PGA Centenary Course. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

By all standards, Sergio Garcia didn’t have a great 2014 season, but then again, it wasn’t a disaster. The 34 year-old Spaniard had a typical…well, Sergio Garcia season. He won one tournament back in January, but played well enough on the world stage to garner a number three ranking in the Official World Golf Rankings(OWGR).

In typical Sergio fashion, Garcia finished the FedEx Cup season on the PGA Tour in 13th position, ranked second in the Race To Dubai standings, and contributed to Europe’s win at The Ryder Cup.

Like a lot of players on both tours, Sergio hits the ball well most of the time, is a decent ball striker, but lives and dies by his success on the greens.

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If you wrote a book on Sergio Garcia’s 2014 season, you could use the Bridgestone Invitational as a template. Got off to a good start, matched a course record at Firestone on Friday with a 61 where he couldn’t miss the cup from anywhere on the green, and couldn’t make a putt on Sunday.

Garcia entered 16 PGA Tour events this year, Made the cut in 15, had three-second place finishes, two thirds, 10 top ten’s and 12 top 25’s. That’s a career for many golfers, but even with no wins on the PGA Tour. That’s a pretty good season.

Not only were his good finishes impressive, they came in big events(probably why he’s ranked so high in the OWGR). A fourth at the WGC-HSBC, a T9 at the WGC-Cadillac, a third at the Players, T2 at the Open Championship, a second at the WGC Bridgestone. His missed cut? Augusta!

The win came at The Commercial Bank Qatar Masters back in January. With that win, and the great finishes in WGC and major events has Sergio in Second place in the Race to Dubai standings, albeit a distant second behind Rory McIlroy.

Without a doubt, every great player runs hot and cold with the flat stick, and Sergio is no different. Sometimes good putting is bolstered by good iron play, which is set up by a good drive. There-in is where I think Sergio’s problems lie. Although Sergio is a great ball striker, occasionally, he hits that errant tee-shot that ends in double bogey.

That errant tee shot usually comes when he is under pressure, and more times than not, cost him a win, but a good finish. Close, but no cigar.

With that being said, Sergio Garcia finished in 13th place in the FedEx Cup standings, and made just shy of $5 Million dollars on the PGA Tour in 2014. He drove the ball at a 294.3 average hitting fairways at 62%. He was on the greens in regulation 68% of the time, but his Strokes Gained Putting was only .163.

His scoring average for the year was respectful at 68.959.

Paired with Rory McIlroy for three of the four daily events at Gleneagles, They lost in morning Fourball on Friday to the Phil Mickelson/Keegan Bradley team, and they halved the afternoon Foursomes against Rickie Fowler, and Jimmy Walker. Sergio won his Sunday match, one up over Jim Furyk.

Sergio Garcia had another respectful season in 2014, but with the strong finishes and only one win, I am going to give him a solid B on his report card. A good year, but it could have been better!