Mayo don’t win All-Irelands, Liverpool don’t win the Premier League, and Sergio Garcia doesn’t win majors.

Since the Spaniard had lit up the golfing world with a magical second place finish at Medinah aged 19, Garcia had had 22 top 10 finishes in majors, 4 second places, 12 top 5s, over a period of almost 18 years.

The likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have edged out Garcia in majors over the years, but no player took advantage of the Spaniard’s mishaps than Pádraig Harrington, who beat him in a playoff at the 2007 Open and then by two shots in the 2008 PGA Championship

One of the greatest talents in the game, it was long expected that he would become a major champion at some point. Yet, Colin Montgomerie never won a major and Lee Westwood is still majorless. From every generation, there are great players for which the pressure of a major becomes too much.

Over the year, Garcia had lost the youthful exuberance he had showed while running up Medinah as a teenager, set to be the new Seve Ballesteros. At the 2009 Masters, he moaned about the condition of Augusta National.

“I don’t like it, I don’t think it’s fair,” he said. When asked what he would change, he said “I don’t really care, I just come here to play and then I go home.”

A few years later, he made a frank admission that he did not believe he could win the Masters.

“I’m not good enough…I don’t have the thing I need to have in any major,” he said.

A Different Sergio

A ball-striking extraordinaire, it was always Sergio’s head that held him back first and foremost.

“When Sergio has good people around him, he’s at his best,” Paul McGinley said.

His engagement to Angela Akins seems to have brought a more positive Garcia to the fore, who didn’t blink when it mattered.

It looked like ‘here-we-go-again’ at the start of the back nine, as he bogeyed 10, bogeyed 11 and then pulled his ball into no-man’s land on the 13th hole. Taking a penalty shot, Garcia somehow managed to make a par there and then something clicked for him.

On the 14th hole, he hit a fantastic short iron to make another birdie. His 15th hole was as good as golf gets. A massive drive was followed by a towering 8 iron that hit the flagstick and almost went in for an albatross 2. An eagle followed.

Justin Rose is the ultimate competitor and still it looked like he might win the contest. On the 16th, both hit it close to the hole and in a very similar situation to Harrington vs Garcia in 2007 and 2008, Rose made his putt and Garcia missed his, meaning that Rose held a one stroke lead with two holes remaining.

The Englishman bogeyed the tough 17th hole and the perfect theatre was set on the 18th with two fantastic shots into the green for birdies. After Rose missed his putt, Garcia missed a seven-foot putt to win the Masters.

A playoff ensued and amateur psychologists analysed Garcia’s negative body language. But Sergio had the bit between his teeth this time and didn’t waver. This time he would birdie the first playoff hole.

On Seve Ballesteros’ 60th birthday, the ‘new Seve’ had won his first major 15 years older than when Ballesteros had won his first major.

“The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have come back from defeat” said seven-time major winner Sam Snead. After 18 years of defeats, it had made this victory all the sweeter.