The natives were getting restless at Bethpage Black in 2002 as Sergio Garcia stood in the rain on the 16th fairway doing his best Mike Hargrove impersonation. He was in full waggle mode, taking an actual New York minute before pulling the trigger. The stock characters who made up the U.S. Open galleries were audibly counting each twitch.



The shot misfired.

The middle finger didn't.

The hecklee had returned fire to the hecklers.

In New York? Yikes. It was practically a declaration of war. To the galleries, El Niño had become El Diablo.


Garcia, 29, has cultivated his whine in the seven intervening years but the root stock took hold that week. Until then, his endearing image was of the 19-year-old who clicked his heels and jumped for joy as he tried to chase down Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA at Medinah with all the promise of a future rivalry.

Yet, somehow, the charming impetuosity turned into petulance, and at Bethpage, it sprung like lightning from the perfect storm of that Friday's rain-soaked round.

As a slumping Sergio gets ready for his return to Long Island for today's U.S. Open, one has to wonder whether the "patrons" are getting their lungs in shape - and if Garcia can answer them as he did in 2002.



He has certainly provided some fresh ammo. With his trademark candor, Garcia poured his heart out a couple of weeks ago when he confessed he hasn't been able to play good golf since he was jilted by longtime girlfriend Morgan-Leigh Norman, daughter of the Shark himself.

"It was probably the first time I have been really in love," he sighed. "It took me a while to get over it."

Maybe it wasn't the best timing.

"I'm not sure I would have gone public with that stuff prior to the U.S. Open, let's put it that way," fretted Peter Kostis, CBS' golf commentator and coach for Paul Casey, who has surpassed Garcia as the leading European player. "I'm a Boston Red Sox fan . . . and if New York fans sense a little bit of blood in the water, they're going to go after you. Period, case closed, end of discussion.

"I expect there might be some harsh things done or said if he doesn't play well, maybe some signs of whatever. It could be tough. I hope it isn't."

If his incessant waggling started up the fans in '02, that wasn't the end of it. Garcia, having played in the brunt of the awful weather Friday afternoon, bellyached that had Tiger Woods, who was in the morning wave, been out there, the USGA would have stopped play. He also suggested the galleries were "afraid" to get on "the big guys."



source : http://www.nydailynews.com