His sabbatical over, Garcia relishes home course challenge

text size

It's been a two-month sabbatical, and Sergio Garcia is re-energized and ready to go.

He last played at the PGA Championship. That was when -- after looking back on an indifferent year in which his best performance was a semifinal victory at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship -- he decided it was time to take his first significant break from golf since turning professional in 1999.

He says he had felt "drained" and "lost his motivation."

Garcia did take on a vice-captain's role at the Ryder Cup, of course. He says that the "first two or three days were very hard" at Celtic Manor, because he was seeing friends and playing partners, and was not personally able to pick up a point for Europe.

As most expected after the Ryder Cup experience, though, Garcia appears full of energy once again, the bubbly character we've come to relish watching. He is playing the Castello Masters on his home course at Castellon in Spain, the course where he learned the game under the instruction of his father Victor.

"I (now) actually enjoy practicing. I have set myself new goals and look forward to performing again at the top level," the 30-year-old said. "I am playing this week to win... then I want to return gradually to where I should be and perform to my full potential, and that is world number one."

Garcia won his home event on its first staging and was fourth last year after being fastest out of the blocks with an opening 63. It'll be intriguing to see how he fares this time.

THE CLUB DE CAMPO del Mediterraneo is a familiar venue for the majority of Spanish golfers. The course, which is nestled among the cork oaks in the hills outside Castellon, hosts a regular domestic event when the home stars of various tours, young and not-so-young, get together for a team tournament.

It's also very familiar track for another returning national hero as Jose Maria Olazabal picks up his clubs once again.

He, like Sergio, was involved behind the scenes at the Ryder Cup. Admittedly, he was performing one role and then switched to another. As Colin Montgomerie said: "He's here (in Wales) as an ambassador for Nespresso coffee, and we felt that was a misuse of talent, expertise and experience."

We hope that his talent will be seen once again, though his break has been considerably longer than Garcia's. Olazabal last played at the French Open in July and missed the cut.

"I've managed to make successful comebacks in the past, but it gets tougher as you get older." says the two-time Masters champion. "Your physical condition is tougher to maintain, especially if, like me, you have gone almost three years without being able to exercise properly."

It's a continuous battle with rheumatism and tendonitis for the man touted to be Europe's next Ryder Cup captain, but as Olazabal says, he's a "positive person, and I am already looking forward to getting myself fitter for next year."

THE 34-YEAR-OLD ENGLISH player Benn Barham is, likewise, a very positive player. He's had his battles down the years to make the grade on the European Tour, finishing second in an Austrian Open as his best achievement, though twice having won on the second tier Challenge Tour.

He's got a bigger battle to fight now.

Barham has had a kidney removed after doctors found a tumor. He'd been having stomach problems, and a scan subsequently revealed the potentially cancerous tumor. It was decided the best and safest option was to remove the kidney, and the recent Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was his last event prior to the operation.

He says he's "sore and groggy", but the operation was a success.

The golf career has had to be put on hold. He reckons it'll take two months to recover from the surgery, ruling out a trip to q-school in November.

He hopes to be playing once the Challenge Tour resumes in the spring.

ONE SWALLOW DOESN'T MAKE a summer, but it's good to see that the former U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell may be on the mend.

Admittedly, he still missed the cut at the Portugal Masters after woeful scoring in the second round, but a first-round 67 was his best score in more than two years on the European Tour. He thanked coach Bob Torrance for steering him to the light at the end of a long tunnel.

"He's taught me how to play simple golf again." Cambo said. "It's been a tough journey so far, but knowing you've won one of the biggest tournaments in the world keeps you going. But my expectations and those around me, were so high after 2005, it's been killing me."

A DREADFUL BACK NINE 'killed' Pablo Martin at the Portugal Masters. At one stage he was four ahead but in the end he had to settle for sixth place as Richard Green's closing 65 won the day. Martin was brave enough to admit he "choked" with his final round 75.

Still, you have to feel the 24-year-old has a very bright future. The Oklahoma State graduate was the first amateur to win a European Tour event when he captured the Estoril Open de Portugal in 2007 and he won in South Africa at the very start of this season.

Sunday's emotional despondency aside, he has an effervescence to match Sergio Garcia, and could well turn things around immediately in his countryman's event at Castellon. And the future, he hopes, will involve the PGA TOUR.

He's aiming to try the PGA TOUR q-school. "I always thought I was going to stay (in the U.S.)," he said. "I really like the States, and I have a lot of friends there. I want to give it a try. I'm 24, I have no kids or wife or anything, so I don't have any ties."

IN THE MEANTIME, THE SMILES have returned for Martin and Garcia on the football pitch.

Sergio is "El Presidente" of the C.F. Borriol team, and has lined up on the wing in a match featuring 'soccer' legends Johan Cruyff and Roberto Donadoni. Martin played in the charity game along with other Spanish golfing stars Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Alejandro Cańizares, Pablo Larrazábal, Santi Luna, Carlos Rodiles, and Álvaro Velasco, as well as Argentina's Rafa Echenique.

Nick Dye is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.