Time for paella

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Among the many rewards Sergio Garcia earned for winning his first major championship? His favorite dish, prepared by a world-class chef.

Jose Andres once made Time’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people and has a restaurant that earned two stars in the prestigious Michelin rating system. Preparing food for Garcia and his entourage was Andres’ assignment last week in Augusta.

An assorted cast of family and friends followed Garcia around Alister Mackenzie’s inland links, including stars from both football and football, the American version and the global game. And, of course, Garcia’s fiancée, Angela Akins (they’re scheduled to get married in July), was there. She’s helped the emotional Garcia adopt a more positive mindset on the course. It proved to be the missing piece that one of golf’s best ball-strikers needed to win his long-awaited major.

Andres gave Garcia a taste of home during the week in the Deep South, preparing Spanish cuisine such as oxtail, which is, in fact, the tail of cattle. The fatty meat is flavorful and tender and usually served in braises or stews. Garcia’s favorite dish, paella, was saved for Sunday night’s celebration.

That meal had to be especially satisfying after Garcia came out on top in a duel the likes of which Augusta National is known for producing, but that hadn’t been seen around these parts in several years. Garcia beat England’s Justin Rose in the Masters’ first sudden-death playoff in four years. They both had 72nd-hole birdie putts for the win, marking the first time since 2009 that both members of the final group had a chance to win on the final hole.

Garcia and Rose both missed makeable birdie putts – Garcia’s was just 5 feet -- the first time they played No. 18 on Sunday. Garcia didn’t let this opportunity slip away, though, sinking a 12-footer to win on the first extra hole.

Akins ran out onto the green and exclaimed, “You did it!”

His response? “I did it!”

Yes he did.

Sunday’s leaderboard started with several intriguing possibilities, but it was a two-man race by the turn. While Rose clinically dissected the second nine like the U.S. Open champion that he is, Garcia’s play was fitting for a player whose emotional displays over the years have covered a wide spectrum. He made two bogeys, two birdies and an eagle on the final nine holes of regulation.

The long-time Ryder Cup teammates traded the lead on the last day, but their paths diverged on the 18th tee, where they both stood 9 under par.

The patrons were more than a dozen deep as the Masters came down to the final two players. Gallery members stood on unoccupied golf carts and folding lawn chairs, craning their necks for a glimpse and narrating the action to those unable to see this intracontinental tussle between two Ryder Cup teammates.

It was so difficult to see that much of Garcia’s entourage retreated to the clubhouse’s grill room to watch the sudden-death playoff, the first at the Masters between two Europeans. Two televisions flanked a glass case that included a club donated from each of the previous Masters champions.

They took two tables in the rear right corner of the room, just in front of the bar. Among the group was Andres and Luis Figo, a former Portuguese football star who was FIFA’s World Player of the Year in 2001, as well as Garcia’s parents, Victor and Consuelo.

They watched as Sergio and Rose both hit the 18th green. Rose missed a 10-foot birdie putt before Sergio failed on that 5-footer that would’ve given him a walk-off win. On the first playoff hole, Rose found trouble, and his par putt was outside Sergio’s 12-foot attempt for birdie.

Victor let out a loud gasp when Rose missed his putt. No one has had a closer seat for Sergio’s long major pursuit. Victor, a former professional golfer, has been his son’s only coach since Sergio first swung a club at age 3. Victor taught at Club de Campo del Mediterraneo while Sergio was a boy. Consuelo managed the club’s pro shop.

Victor’s heaving sobs were audible as Sergio lined up that last putt, and Sergio’s supporters shot out of their chairs when it was over. Hugs and kisses on the cheek immediately followed.

Sergio’s victory came on what would have been the 60th birthday of Seve Ballesteros, the two-time Masters champion who passed away in 2011. The date’s significance was repeated throughout Sunday’s telecast. Andres’ reaction illustrated its importance.

He yelled, “Happy birthday, Seve!” inside the quiet grill room after Sergio hit his approach shot on the first playoff hole, then repeated it two more times when the win was complete.

As Victor walked to Butler Cabin to meet his son, the new Masters champion, he was asked to describe his emotions. “No se puede, no se puede describir,” he said.

The translation? I cannot describe it.

Andres translated Victor’s words into English as the father discussed a dream that had been deferred for nearly two decades.

“So many years, 19 years, playing the Masters and finally,” said Victor, who caddied for his son in his Masters debut. Sergio set the record for most Masters starts before winning a green jacket (this was his 19th). His 73 major starts before his first win also was a record. It was a little past 8 p.m. when Danny Willett finally helped Sergio into his new jacket as the moon rose over Augusta National’s putting green.

It was in 1999 that Sergio stood on that same green and shared the stage with his fellow Spaniard, Jose Maria Olazabal. Sergio, the reigning British Amateur champion, was the low amateur, while Olazabal, his hero, was slipping on the green jacket for a second time.

Sergio turned pro soon after, and didn’t take much time to flirt with his first major victory. He took Tiger Woods to the wire at Medinah in the PGA Championship, a pursuit punctuated by a scissor-kick. The enthusiasm with which he bounded around the fairways burnished the “El Nino” nickname into people’s minds.

That name no longer applies. At 37, there’s more gray in his beard and few more pounds on his frame. What hasn’t changed is the downswing with so much lag that it gives clubheads whiplash.

“He’s always been a good player,” Lee Westwood said. “I haven’t seen him change much. His game looks the same as it did when he was a 19-year-old. Admittedly, he doesn’t run around and bounce up and down quite as much. Probably an age thing.”

Sergio’s vertical leap may have diminished with age, but he still is in perpetual motion as he prepares to hit a shot. He’s worked hard on his mental approach to remove tension from his game, and his pre-shot routine accomplishes the same aim.

He stands behind the ball with the club in his left hand, waggling it slightly back and forth to remove tension from the arm. He pauses slightly before stepping into the shot, then shakes the club a few more times before starting his swing.

Mackenzie, the Augusta National architect, knew the importance of such motions before hitting a shot. The waggle is a move that many of the golf’s great ballstrikers, especially Ben Hogan, emphasized. Mackenzie wrote this in his book “The Spirit of St. Andrews,” in 1933: “The preliminary waggle is of importance, as it enables the player to get the feel of the clubhead. It should consist, as I have already said, of a rocking movement from one foot to the other.”

This is how Sergio sets one of the game’s most recognizable swings in motion. His ballstriking was key to his success last week. Nothing new there. He ranked second in both driving accuracy and greens hit at Augusta National, overcoming a Masters that started with two trying days of weather (temperatures in the 40s and high winds) and ended with the fireworks that the course’s second nine was designed to induce.

The focus last week wasn’t on Sergio’s physical skills, though. He’s been an elite player for nearly two decades now. Instead, his mental game made news. During his Friday press conference, he faced so many inquiries about the maturation of “El Nino” that he jokingly asked, “You guys don’t like me, you want me to change?” before explaining that he does indeed feel calmer on the course and is less perturbed by bad bounces. On Sunday, he said he felt at peace during the drive to the course and even in the playoff.

“For some reason, when I get into playoffs, … I'm quite comfortable,” he said. “I feel like I've already had an amazing week no matter what happens, and you know, I can go out there and kind of free-wheel it.”

Sergio used the word “acceptance” several times last week. In previous years, the pressure to win a major seemed to overwhelm him. He accused the golf gods of waging war against him after he lost the 2007 Open Championship, and it was at this tournament five years ago where he said he lacked the ability to ever win a major.

Sergio does not hide his emotions. He has both endeared fans with his child-like enthusiasm and earned their ire with childish petulance. He now calls himself “stupid” for “trying to fight against something that you can’t fight.” No longer grating against fate, he’s now striving to be at peace with whatever may come his way.

“It’s not easy because I know how much of a hard-headed man I can be sometimes, but it’s been great,” Sergio said. “The most positive thing is that I feel like I have so much room for improvement.”

Said Akins: “It’s the same Sergio that people have known and loved, but he’s just been working really, really hard on his game off the golf course. He’s been focused on his mental game and he’s done an incredible job.”

She played college golf at the University of Texas and was a Golf Channel reporter before Sergio popped the question in January. Her father, Marty, was an All-American quarterback for the Longhorns. Sergio enjoys visiting the family’s Texas ranch for its quiet and solitude, as well as the influence his soon-to-be in-laws have on him.

“Marty is a very, very positive, very outspoken and very, very confident kind of guy, and it definitely helps when he's encouraging you,” Sergio said. "Angela is the same way.”

On Sunday, Sergio pulled three shots ahead just five holes into the day. He was two behind after back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 10 and 11, though. He pulled his drive at 11 into the left trees, and backed off the next shot several times before hitting it. After several false starts, the patrons by the green laughed at Sergio’s indecision. Some may have seen another collapse as fodder for a good punchline.

Things didn’t get better when his tee shot at the 13th hole clipped a tree and fell into a bush, forcing Sergio to take a penalty drop. His previous self would’ve been undone by the bad break. With Rose in the fairway, it looked like Sergio would trail by at least three shots with five holes remaining.

“In the past, I would have started going, ‘Why doesn’t it go through (the trees)?’ he said. “But, you know, I was like, ‘Well, if that’s what is supposed to happen, let it happen. Let’s try to make a great 5 here and see if we can put on a hell of a finish to have a chance.’”

That’s exactly what happened. Sergio and Rose played to an unlikely halve on the hole, though, after Rose took three shots to get down from just behind the green.

Sergio holed a 6-foot birdie putt at 14 to get within one shot, then hit a booming drive down the 15th hole. He had just an 8-iron into the par-5. He hit it to 15 feet and made the putt for eagle. Rose and Sergio swapped short misses on the next two holes, though. Sergio missed a short birdie putt at 16, while Rose failed to convert an 8-foot par putt for a sand save at 17. Then they both missed their birdie putts on the 72nd hole.

There were several opportunities for this tournament to slip away, but Sergio gave the impression that he would have been OK, no matter the outcome.

“I have a beautiful life. Major or no major, I said it many, many times, I have an amazing life,” Sergio said Sunday evening. “Obviously, this is something I wanted to do for a long time, but it never felt like a horror movie. It felt a like a little bit of a drama, maybe, but obviously with a happy ending.”