Legend brands Sergio Garcia golf’s “biggest underachiever”

Two-time major champion Tony Jacklin has taken an extraordinary swipe at Sergio Garcia, labelling the Spaniard the “biggest underachiever in golf”.

In an interview with Golfweek, Jacklin said that, for all Garcia’s success in the Ryder Cup, his inability to win multiple majors is at odds with his talent.

“He’s been one of the best players on the planet for the last 20 years and doesn’t have much to show for it,” said the English icon. “Seve had more courage in his little finger than this lad. Don’t get me wrong, Sergio has been a prolific winner, but he had the ability to win double-digit majors.

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“[Lee] Trevino said long ago, ‘God never gave one man everything’. Garcia would be the one that jumps out to me. He’s been a marvellous Ryder Cup player. When he’s bathed in the team environment it brings the best out of him. It seems to give him comfort to perform at his best as opposed to when he’s all alone and it seems like a huge task.

“Even the Masters he won [in 2017], I thought the wheels were going to come off at the 13th. He’s 41 now, and I can’t see him being born again. To think that he’s only won one major as a ballstriker like he is, well, it’s mind-boggling.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Jacklin also said that there is “no way” this year’s Ryder Cup should go ahead.

It has been rumoured that the match – scheduled to be played at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in September – could go ahead behind closed doors in a bid to mitigate the risk from coronavirus. However, several high-profile players, including Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka, have voiced their opposition to such a contingency. Jacklin agrees with them.

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“It would be a disaster,” he said. “I think they should delay it and go back to the odd years while things get back to whatever normal is going to be.

“More than any event, the Ryder Cup needs the galleries. They make it. The pressure builds up and there’s like a spiritual connection between the players and the galleries, and they make it, more than any other event, in my view.”