2008 was a good year for Sergio Garcia

The demise of Sergio Garcia has been greatly exaggerated!

I’ve been crunching some numbers for 2008, and it’s shaping out to be the best - if not the most painful - year of his career. While Sergio sips his sangria somewhere in the south of Spain, I can’t imagine him overly disappointed with his tumultuous 2008 campaign. He’s probably quite pleased with it.

We’re going to stew on his three runner-ups this year, all in high-profile tournaments (The PGA Championship, Barclays and Tour Championship). But let’s recall earlier this year he won The Players Championship. The Players’ field is deeper than any major and while we’ll still call Sergio “major-less", there are a lot of pros out there who consider the Players as prestigious as any major. The $1.71 million check ain’t chump change, even in Euros.

He won over $4 million on the PGA Tour in 2008, a new high for him. And also earned over £1 on the European Tour Order of Merit (though I think there is some overlap there with the WGC & majors earnings).

He’s back into the top five of the World Golf Rankings after falling out of the Top 10 in 2006. These days in majors, Sergio is now more dangerous than other high-ranking players like Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, or even lately Phil Mickelson.

He had an abysmal Ryder Cup, especially falling to a hot Anthony Kim in Sunday Singles, but still came away with two draws (though he and Casey’s draw against the cupcake team of Stricker/Curtis sure felt like a loss). Come Wales in 2010, Sergio will have his swagger back and posts another winning record.

I am sticking by my guns and saying he wins a major before he turns 30. Let’s not forget Phil Mickelson’s first major didn’t come until he was 33. I am not in the category of writers who think Sergio is damaged goods, even if he did date Greg Norman’s daughter once upon a time. I don’t think the Shark’s bad luck can be transferred through the dating of an offspring, though I believe science is still inconclusive on that.

El Nino hasn’t struck yet!