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Making case for Sergio at U.S. Open: Other notes

Submitted by SHNS on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 14:43

Fast-forward two weeks to the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego.Let's pretend Tiger Woods' surgically repaired left knee aches too badly for him to walk 7,643 yards on four consecutive days. Let's say Phil Mickelson smacks too many drives left into the trees -- gee, where have we seen that before? -- and too few amazing wedge shots onto the green.Dare we suggest this might open a small, narrow path to major-championship glory for ... Sergio Garcia?First, understand this: We're not saying Garcia will win the Open. The moment he walked onto the No. 1 tee at Hoylake for the final round of the 2006 British Open -- wearing a preposterous canary-yellow outfit that made him look like a banana -- we lost all faith in his ability to handle prime-time moments. Then, when he missed short par putts on two of the first three holes, we essentially scribbled in the notebook, "Don't ever pick this guy to win a major." His 72nd-hole miss at last year's British underscored the point.Still, in the wake of Garcia's victory this month at the Players Championship, it seems fair to say he belongs on the short list of logical contenders at Torrey Pines. One, it's a U.S. Open, where ball-striking matters nearly as much as putting. Two, Garcia showed uncommon moxie by draining his testy, 72nd-hole par putt at the Players and striping his tee shot to the island-green 17th in the playoff. Three, longtime nemesis Woods might not lord over the Open as once expected, given his knee injury and long layoff.Garcia twice has finished in the top five at the U.S. Open, in 2002 at Bethpage in New York (when he faded in a final-round pairing with Woods) and in '05 at Pinehurst in North Carolina. He missed the cut the past two years."I'm hitting the ball nicely now, and when I do that, the U.S. Open is definitely one of the events that suits me the best," Garcia said this week on a conference call. "Even though you still have to putt and chip well, if your ball-striking is good and you're making a lot of pars, you're going to be there on the weekend."Garcia returns to the PGA Tour this week at the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio, after spending the past two weeks in his native Spain. He savored the time with friends who stayed up well into the night to watch him win the Players, his first victory in three years.The win energized Garcia and stirred justifiable praise for his exceptional tee-to-green play. He also has some positive history at Torrey Pines, where he tied for sixth in the Buick Invitational in 2006. It would help Garcia's chances, naturally, if Woods is off his game -- and if Garcia leaves the banana outfit at home.DIRTBAG BROTHERS: Paul Goydos, the journeyman who fell to Garcia in the Players, was chatting recently about his Long Beach State Dirtbags -- he wore the baseball team's hat during the tournament -- when he brought up a familiar name: Bobby Crosby. Goydos found himself sitting next to Crosby on an airplane flight in 2004, the year Crosby, the Oakland A's shortstop, won Rookie-of-the-Year honors.Goydos recognized Crosby, who played baseball at Long Beach State, and they struck up a pleasant conversation about their alma mater. They apparently didn't talk much about the American League West."To be honest, I'm an Angels fan," said Goydos, who still lives in Southern California. "I was a little uncomfortable sitting next to an Oakland A."Crosby remembered the conversation with Goydos and recognized his fellow "Dirtbag" on television May 11, when A's players watched Goydos grapple with Garcia in the final round."I was rooting like crazy for him," Crosby said.TAP-INS: Jason Gore and Kevin Sutherland are the biggest names in the 86-man field for Monday's U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Lake Merced. ... Lorena Ochoa withdrew from this week's LPGA Tour event in South Carolina to return to Mexico and visit a "very ill" uncle. The field includes every other player in the top 20 on the money list.(E-mail Ron Kroichick at rkroichick@sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)