Sergio García was back at the Masters venue early in the week, practicing before the tournament begins this week and trying to find something that feels closer to the player who won the green jacket in 2017. Since that victory, García has played the Masters seven times and missed the cut six times, a run that has made Augusta National one of the toughest stops on his calendar.
“Not super happy at the moment, but we’re working, and we’ll see,” García told reporters. He added, “We’ll see what happens throughout the week,” and admitted, “Yeah, at the moment I’m not feeling amazing.”
That is the weight hanging over this Masters for García, who still arrives as a past champion but not as a contender with much recent proof at Augusta. The weather may help. Forecasts show little rain during the tournament, which should leave the fields firm and fair and give players a consistent test from start to finish.
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García’s record here since his 2017 win has been poor enough to make every practice session feel like an examination. He said, “There’s obviously good and bad, I guess,” but also pointed to the one thing that keeps him coming back: “But fortunately, there’s some really good moments here.”
That history matters because this week’s field includes Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Gary Woodland, who has taken time off specifically to prepare for the tournament. García is not just trying to survive another Masters appearance. He is trying to prove that the best version of his game can still show up where it once did most memorably.
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For now, the only answer he has is the one he gave with a shrug of experience: “You try to think a little bit of some of those that you’ve lived in the past, and hopefully you get more to build on.”
