Belly Putter Mania is finally over as Sergio Garcia limps home in British Open at Carnoustie

Did you make sure to check the refund policy when you ran out and bought a “belly putter” this weekend after watching it perform miracles on Sergio Garcia’s maligned putting game at the British Open this week at Carnoustie?

Of course, the belly putter, like all other putters, has no cure for the timid mind. And Garcia missed numerous short putts on Sunday including an 18th-hole lip-out that would have clinched the Open and his first major.

His putting was the most under the microscope this week, but in the end it was Garcia’s extremely conservative approach that likely doomed him Sunday, hitting irons almost exclusively off the tee.

The problem however, is he’s not Tiger Woods and Carnoustie isn’t Hoylake. His revised Sunday game plan was beyond conservative and simply wimpy.

He hit iron on the 499-yard 18th hole - which left him about 250 into the green when he needed par to win his first major.

We know all the trouble that lurks around the 18th, but when you’re going after your first major and you’ve been the best player all week, you hit a 3-wood or driver and nail the field into their coffins - not limp onto the green and put your short game (never his strong suit) on the spot.

His strategy on the 18th wasn’t confident and it wasn’t bold - the kind of traits Garcia usually has on display for the public in his flashy clothes, cocky press conferences and sexy beer commercials.

They should change that Michelob Ultra commercial he’s in - where he boldly sneaks into the exclusive black tie party to get the pretty woman in the red dress - to Garcia sitting in the dark, V.I.P. section alone, wondering aloud when the buxom beauty will seek him out. That seems to be more Sergio’s style apparently - at least according to Sunday.

Garcia is still young though, just 27 years old. Let’s not forget the equally-scrutinized Phil Mickelson didn’t take home his first major until his mid-30s. Neither did Sunday’s winner, Padraig Harrington. Garcia can still grow up.