Garcia: I’m not good enough to win

Spaniard makes extraordinary admission after failing to contend at Augusta

Downbeat: Sergio Garcia says he doesn’t have what it takes to be a major-winner after finishing 12th at Augusta

After finishing in a share of 12th at the Masters, Sergio Garcia has admitted: “I’m not good enough to win a major.”

The Spaniard made the extraordinary admission after closing with a 71 to finish on two-under-par, eight strokes behind the winner Bubba Watson.

Garcia, who has now played 54 majors since his debut at the 1996 Open Championship as a 16-year-old, played himself into contention at Augusta National at the halfway stage after rounds of 72 and 68.

However, he slumped to a 75 in round three, leaving him eight shots adrift of 54-hole leader Peter Hanson of Sweden. Afterwards, he gave an interview to Spanish media in which he delivered a withering assessment of his game.

“I’m not good enough, I don’t have the thing I need to have ,” said Garcia. “In 13 years, I have come to the conclusion that I need to play for second or third place.”

He went on: “Tell me something I can do. I had my chances and opportunities and I wasted them. I have no more options. I wasted my options.”

Whilst the 32-year-old’s golf improved in the final round – a one-under-par 71 put him alongside Kevin Na, Graeme McDowell, Hunter Mahan and veteran Fred Couples in a share of 12th – his mood afterwards was no brighter.

Asked if he meant what he had said to the Spanish press the previous day, he replied: “Do you think I lie when I talk?”

He added: “Everything I say, I say because I feel it. If I didn’t mean it, I couldn’t stand here and lie like a lot of the guys do. If I felt like I could win, I would do it. Unfortunately, at the moment, unless I get really lucky one of the weeks, I can’t really play much better than I played this week and I’m going to finish 13th or 15th.”

In reply to a question asking what it is he thinks he is missing, Garcia simply said: “Everything.”

Garcia has 17 major top tens so far, including a tie for seventh at last year’s US Open and a tie for ninth at the 2011 Open Championship.

In 2007, he was beaten in a play-off for the Open at Carnoustie by Padraig Harrington after having led the tournament from the opening round. He missed an eight-foot putt at the 72nd hole in regulation that would have given him the title.

He finished second to Harrington again at the 2008 US PGA Championship, having led for a time on the back nine, and was also runner-up in 1999 to Tiger Woods in the same tournament.

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Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered