If you needed more proof, then just take a look as Garcia played his second shot on the par-5 14th hole during the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Before watching, a little background. Garcia, a 10-time PGA Tour winner, hasn’t been victorious since his triumph at the 2017 Masters. It’s gotten so bad that this past week he fell out of the top 50 on the World Ranking for the first time since 2011. And yet, through 54 holes at C.C. of Jackson, Garcia looked like his old winning self, taking a share of the lead into the final round and putting himself in position to quiet all the naysayers.

However …

Early on Sunday Peter Malnati stormed out to a 63, finishing his round with Garcia just starting the back nine and grabbing the lead away from the Spaniard. Suddenly, Garcia was in need of stepping up in the clutch if this story of his career turnaround was to continue in Mississippi.

OK, back then to the second shot on the 14th:

EAGLE for @TheSergioGarcia. ?

A near-perfect shot into the par 5.

He's tied the lead @Sanderson_Champ.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/wJOfUc6ymK

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 4, 2020

Of course, there’s a bit of luck there, the ball just carrying the bunker and then totally being killed on the first bounce to nestle within six feet of the hole, by far the closest any golfer had come all day.

Garcia, who also was making headlines this week for closing his eyes over putts, easily rolled in the eagle putt and suddenly found himself tied for the lead with Malnati.

Here’s one more look—and listen—into Garcia going all Sergio on his golf ball:

Looked good the whole way. ? pic.twitter.com/4ZIoh35RMf

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 4, 2020

The post Watch (and listen) to Sergio Garcia bark at his ball mid-flight setting up this amazing eagle appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
“Can you give me just one second, please? Angela needs to tell me something.”

Sergio Garcia agreed some weeks ago to make himself available for a teleconference to discuss his victory in the 2017 Masters, and on Tuesday morning he dutifully fulfilled his commitment. Before taking questions, however, he allowed his young bride to interrupt the proceedings.

Wait, what? You’re going to put Augusta National Golf Club and a national media contingent on hold? This better be good.

Oh. Well, yes, that is good.

Expecting the couple’s first child, a girl, Angela’s water broke Tuesday morning about 90 minutes before the teleconference. So, there was Sergio having to conduct the call from a hospital in Austin, Texas. More specifically, he was sitting in his wife’s room in the maternity ward.

“Yeah, it has been an eventful morning,” Garcia said with an air of calm. “It is kind of, I don’t know, surreal, I guess you may say. But she’s doing well, so it’s kind of very, very exciting and nerve‑wracking at the same time.”

Garcia now should be used to that feeling, especially after breaking through to win his first major championship nearly a year ago with his sudden-death playoff victory over Justin Rose. The Spaniard always sensed that winning a major title would be special, but the past year has been eye-opening, nevertheless.

“You don’t realize … I mean, you know how big the Masters is, but when you win it, you realize how much bigger it is all over the world,” El Nino said. “It’s definitely gotten where, yeah, people recognize me a little bit more all over the place outside of the golf course, and also, there’s more interest in me. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Though his daughter is arriving early, Garcia, 38, was late to the major-championship club, not breaking through until his 70th attempt as a professional. The long-awaited triumph has not, however, initiated a rebirth, if you will, in the world’s ninth-ranked golfer.

“They all [ask] me, has it changed your life? But I don’t think and I don’t feel like it has. I’m still doing the same things. I’m still the same guy,” he said. “I mean, you see me every week, and I don’t think I’ve changed in that aspect. But you know, I didn’t know what to expect. Obviously, it’s something that until it happens, you don’t know what it’s going to feel like and what it’s going to do to you. I’m happy that I don’t feel it has changed me. I don’t feel like I’m better than I was before or anything like that.”

Fatherhood will undoubtedly be a different story. Garcia will have to learn to juggle golf and family, perhaps starting as early as next week at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, which, fortunately, is being held at Austin Country Club. (Angela reportedly is exhorting her husband to play.) The whole family is expected to be at Augusta for Sergio’s title defence.

In his 70th professional start in a major, Sergio finally came out on top last April at Augusta. (Photo by JD Cuban)

The arrival of the newborn will come at an interesting time for Garcia, who has seen his game rounding into shape in recent weeks. In January, Garcia was a winner at the Singapore Open on the Asian Tour. After a T-33 finish at the Honda Classic last month, his first PGA Tour starts in 2018, Garcia posted a T-7 at the WGC-Mexico Championship and a solo fourth at the Valspar Championship, backed by a closing 65.

It’s a whole new world for a man who finally ascended to the top of the golf world last April. He has reached out to a few of his peers for advice on how to manage his time, energy and attention, though he seemed to have a good grasp of the situation already.

“A little bit here and there,” he said, “but I think at the end of the day, every child is different. Every child is a different world and every family is a different world. You’ve got to figure out what works for you and for your family. We’re going to start with… we’re going to get a nanny and we’re going to rent a house, so that way our family can still come to a lot of the tournaments that I’m playing so we can spend as much time together as we can.

“We’re just going to kind of evaluate as we go along. It’s brand new for both of us, so we are not sure what exactly to expect, and we’re just going to get the experience of being together with the baby and deal with it the best way possible for all of us.”

And what does he look forward to the most about fatherhood?

“We look forward to everything,” he responded. “Trying to raise a girl the best way possible. Try to make all the decisions as well as we can. At the end of the day, that’s all we can hope for. Hopefully, we have a great, healthy baby girl that grows up to be an amazing woman, and we don’t have to worry too much about her.”

Fortuitously, he embarks on this next stage of his life with one less worry about his career.

The post With baby on the way and a Masters title to defend, Sergio Garcia has a busy few weeks ahead appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.