Sergio Garcia being overlooked at U.S. Open

While all eyes will be on Torrey Pines tamers Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods at this week’s U.S. Open, Sergio Garcia lurks as a serious threat to win his first major.

After all, Garcia overcame his well-documented putting demons to win The Players Championship, the fifth major, a little over a month ago, which ended his three-year winless streak.

He says hes happier with his short game than he has been in the past, and felt good with wedge in hand last week at the St. Jude Championship, where he shot a closing-round 66 to finish tied for fourth. El Nino is the third favorite on WagerWeb.com this week at +1400.

“Its been a while since Ive been able to achieve that, to have a decent score without striking the ball like I normally do,” Garcia said.

Garcia has won seven PGA Tour events, six in Europe and four others around the world, but he’s clearly The Best Player To Never Win A Major, a moniker he would like to shed this week.

With the exception of 2003, Garcia contended in the U.S. Open in four of the five years between 2001-05, but averaged 75.25 when entering the final round with a chance to win.

It has always come down to putting with Sergio.

“When youre playing well but youre not making putts, it feels like theres a lot of pressure, … because it feels like if I start missing a couple of greens here and there, am I going to be struggling?” Garcia said. “(When you are putting well) it is a good feeling and it is good to have that confidence in your game.”

Most important, Garcia says he has learned from last year’s British Open at Carnoustie, when he basically gave the tournament away.

Garcia, who seemed to blame unseen demons at Carnoustie, says hes learned a few lessons from that playoff loss to Padraig Harrington.

“Ive had my chances so thats one goal accomplished. Now we have to try to get it to the next level and hopefully start winning majors,” he said. “I think all these years have really made me mature and kind of control myself even better when Im coming down the stretch. Well see if we can start achieving that.”