Green Jacket dream now a stunning reality for Sergio Garcia

HOPE you’ve caught up on your sleep from Sunday night’s epic Masters’ final round…

If Sergio Garcia has had a long wait for a Major, well, his caddy Glen Murray, one of the world’s best, who hails from Kloof Country Club, has had to be even more patient.

Unless you’re American, Augusta doesn’t dish out Green Jackets to different men from the same nation two years in a row. Ask Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day and now Justin Rose.

So, I knew Justin had no price as it was a statistical impossibility; thus it was Sergio’s all the way, with Seve rearranging the stars to perfectly align for his Spanish countryman.

Okay, that’s not even close to the truth!

After Sergio’s tee shot on the 13th I considered going to bed. It had almost become boring and/or not fun anymore. “Can’t deal with another flop.”

It’s like hanging on to the tiniest shred of hope that Liverpool will win the premier league again. Or that the Proteas will win a World Cup.

So, you seemingly punish yourself by believing until the end, despite knowing it’s not going to turn out like you want it to.

But then I thought, “Justin Rose is a good guy, he was born in South Africa and he won his first title of significance at the Wild Coast years ago.”

He was friendly and humble in that post-tournament interview, surrounded by maybe three journalists, so it’s easy to support him.

Might as well watch him close it out… and the Back Nine on Sunday at the Masters is like nothing else, you just never know.

Sergio’s subsequent rally was gripping.

If the putter had behaved at the end of regulation play, it could have seen him play the last five holes in six under par.

I was also interested to watch how Glen handled himself and his sometimes (previously) volatile player.

Both seemed very calm, composed, collected.

Not me though, I could barely watch – and punched the couch when Sergio’s putt squirted off track on the 72nd.

As a junior, Glen was a talented player, not quite in the league of players like Tim Clark, Warren Abery and Brad Davison, but easily good enough to make the Natal schools’ team, as it was known back then.

His bounding stride was instantly recognisable across two or even three fairways!

His current handicap is a five – he is handicapped at Kloof – but he is significantly better than that.

One suspects there may be a bit of a party when Glen next pops in at Kloof Country Club.

Over the years Glen has caddied for some big name golfers, including Retief Goosen, Charl Schwartzel and others.

However, it is with Sergio that he has had most success.

If there’s anything that can be learnt from this win, it’s that you simply cannot stop believing that ‘it is possible’ despite what everyone else may say and that overcoming some adversity along the way it part of the process.

Now that the gigantic orangutan is off Sergio’s back, it’s not unlikely that another Major could come along quite soon. Claret Jug perhaps?

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