Putting no longer a liability for Garcia

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Sergio Garcia's signature moment of the 2008 season came three months before he holed the winning putt Sunday at Sawgrass.

Two weeks before the World Match Play Championship in late February, the 28-year-old made the call that could alter the remainder of his career. He put down his belly putter and picked up the phone, calling short game guru Stan Utley.

The move was significant because it was a tacit admission that something was indeed wrong. That was a major departure from Garcia's history of denial.

And something was indeed wrong. From 2004 through 2006, Garcia never ranked better than 129th on the PGA Tour in putts a green in regulation. Few players hit more greens than Sergio. And even fewer butchered more short-range putts than the uber-talented ball-striker, who couldn't threaten a manhole from 10 feet.

Of course, Garcia never let facts get in the way of his own perception. He went winless in 2006 and 2007, burning through myriad flat sticks of differing shapes and sizes, while never questioning his stroke. His madness peaked at last year's British Open, which he lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington. After Garcia watched putts graze the high side of the hole on six of the last eight holes at Carnoustie, he stormed into the media tent and blamed the gods for his loss.

"I'm playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field," Garcia said. "I rarely get many good breaks. I didn't miss a shot in the playoff, and I hit unbelievable putts. They just didn't go in."

Perhaps reality found its mark in the aftermath of the British Open. Because earlier this season at the behest of occasional caddie Billy Foster, Garcia sought out Utley, a feel-based short-game instructor and former tour player who teaches at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Utley put Garcia's old blade, a Scotty Cameron Newport 2, back in his hands and helped Garcia channel touch as much as technique. Though he's still a work in progress with the blade, Garcia did make a field-best 126 feet, 10 inches of putts Sunday en route to his first victory since the 2005 Booz Allen Classic.

That's potentially daunting news for the rest of the game's elite players, including Tiger Woods. Because while Garcia always has struggled with his putter, he has also always been the finest player on the planet from tee to green.

"I don't want to be cocky or anything, but when I'm feeling good, I don't think anybody can hit the ball much better than me, not even Tiger Woods," Garcia said after leading the Players field in driving accuracy (76.8 percent) and greens in regulation (77.8 percent). "Unfortunately, his short game is still better than mine, and that's what I have to keep working on. If I keep doing that and believing in myself, I can at least make it difficult for him."

Garcia is among an elite few who could challenge Woods in next month's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. The longest layout in major history, the San Diego course will measure more than 7,600 yards for USGA's annual survival-fest. That will add length to the Open's customary emphasis on accuracy, and nobody boasts a better combination of length and accuracy off the tee than Garcia, who has seen his best major finishes at comparable monsters Medinah (runner-up, 1999 PGA), Bethpage Black (fourth, 2002 U.S. Open) and Carnoustie (runner-up, 2007 British Open).

Perhaps golf's oldest 28-year-old has finally come of age.