The proper sequence of events and timing propelled Sergio to Masters win

Every time a major tournament ends as Sunday’s did at the Masters, it’s a reinforcement of all the beliefs and sayings about redemption and good fortune golfers have believed in ever since some unknown tragedy-scarred golfer finally won a big one way back when.

Golfers have never been able to help themselves after adverse moments, and Sergio Garcia had been no different over the years when things didn’t go his way. They complain and moan about all the bad breaks, but hardly recognize the good ones. Garcia had delivered some amazing quotes that could be summed up that golf, basically, was against him winning a big one.

When something positive happens and is appreciated, golfers believe it’s because “the stars aligned,” or “a blind squirrel finds a nut at least once,” or the “bad breaks even out with the good ones eventually.”

I believe all that is true. There is a crazy, mystical force that is at work in sports, as in life in general, too. For Garcia, it took 74 majors but finally the stars aligned and the right mixture of good and bad events took place in the proper sequence for him to win. Even if you’re not a Sergio fan, you still needed to recognize that forces beyond his control played a part in his winning just as they played a part in all his near misses. When he missed his birdie putt on 18 at the end of regulation—when the entire focus of the golf world was on that one moment—it looked like the right mix of events was still screwed up against him, similar to the missed par and birdie putts on Carnoustie’s 18th on the last day in the 2007 Open Championship. That’s just one of the chances he had that fell flat.  

I’m also of the belief—reinforced by recent events in my life—that things happen for a reason. As it relates to Garcia and the moments that didn’t work for him as he hunted for his first major win, other sayings ring true: it just wasn’t his time, and it wasn’t meant to be. Nothing was further from the truth on Sunday.

How else do you explain that he won on the same week his caddie had the bib number 89, which was the number Danny Willett’s caddie had last year and the number Jack Nicklaus’ had when he won his last major in 1986? Now it’s the bib number for Garcia’s first.

Or that Sergio won on what would have been the 60th birthday of his Spanish idol Seve Ballesteros?

Or that the shot Garcia hit on 15 Sunday that hit the stick was a mild deflection, not the violent type that Rory McIlroy had on 18 Friday that resulted in a bogey? Who can forget the deflection on 15 Tiger Woods had in the 2013 Masters that hurtled the ball into the pond? Rather than that outcome, Garcia got a gentle bounce to keep an eagle putt in play, which he made, by the way, for the first eagle he’d had in his previous 452 holes at the Masters. And that was the first time the eventual champion had eagled 15 en route to winning since 1994 when Jose Maria Olazabal, a fellow Spaniard, did it.

Or that Garcia said he felt a calmness he’d never felt in the final round of a major before?

For the elite golfers with the right skill set to win a major, given a favorable sequence of events at the right time, victory will come in a major. It’s not a for-sure concept, I'll grant. The alignment of stars didn’t happen for Harry Cooper or Colin Montgomerie in the majors, and not yet so far for Lee Westwood. But Garcia now joins players such as Tom Kite and Darren Clarke who won in their late 30s and beyond. All that happened previously is forgotten, golf balanced out in the end for them.

There is a mystical side to sports, no doubt. The UConn women beat Mississippi State by 60 points in the 2016 NCAA tournament. This year, the teams were tied at the end of regulation to go into overtime. The tie score: 60. With an omen like that, it’s no wonder MSU pulled off the biggest upset in the tournament.

My favorite mystery of golf: After a round full of miscues, how the last shot is usually spectacular and “brings you back for another round.”