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Garcia gets his head around what it takes to win

Sergio Garcia looks to be a different person, if not a different golfer © Getty Images

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As Sergio Garcia held on to a slender advantage in the final round of the Andalucian Masters at Valderrama with an array of impressive recovery shots and a series of clutch short putts, it was difficult to recognise the player we saw six months ago - let alone a year or two previously.

2011 had, on balance, been a good year for the Spaniard - even before he won by 11 shots at his home event, the Castello Masters, and followed that up a week later in Sotogrande. He had been in contention (of sorts) at the US Open, nearly won the BMW Championship in Germany, and was arguably only denied a really strong challenge at the Open Championship by being in the weather-ravaged half of the draw (he still finished in the top ten).

Yet, amid those good performances, there was always a nagging feeling surrounding Garcia that he wasn't quite all there. The way he finished at Congressional - leaving a eight-foot par putt short to drop out of the top five - seemed to sum that up; Garcia could quite clearly get himself in positions to do well, but didn't quite have the drive or wherewithal to turn that into something more.

No-one complained, however, indeed the 31-year-old received praise in many quarters for his efforts as there began to be real hope for his future chances. Truth be told, scribes were just happy to see him back playing well after two years where his golfing ability threatened to desert him, just as his love for the game had.

In what was perhaps his lowest point as a player - although he came to enjoy it as a fan - Garcia sat and watched as a non-playing vice-captain while Europe claimed the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. That's where he started to regain a hunger to play the game and over the last year he, and everyone else, has come to be reminded of the rare gift he was given.

He is, with only a handful of challengers, probably the most naturally gifted golfer around today. Unfortunately, he has played his whole career in an era when technological advances have been so frequent - and so successful - that the innate ability of any player to strike a ball with unerring purity has become less and less crucial to success.

Ben Hogan's awe-inspiring ability to hit a one-iron would be a curiosity in the modern game, not one primary indicator of his superiority.

Garcia has the misfortune to play in an era where it is putting and the mental game - his two obvious weaknesses - that most often decide tournaments. But his performance at Valderrama suggested that might be the case no longer.

Garcia's putting has gradually improved all season (statistically it is above average among European Tour professionals) and, on Sunday, he showed that. An early missed putt for par may have been replayed frequently in the aftermath but it was not a fair reflection of his overall body of work on the greens, as he consistently rolled in putts - from three-feet to 15 - on the back nine to hold off Miguel Angel Jimenez's great charge.

This was part a matter of improved technique (even if his 'claw' grip looks the enforced result of a few awkwardly-positioned paper cuts on his hands), but also of mental resolve. He willed some putts into the hole, and his delight at victory was clear in the primal roar he unleashed upon finally clinching the title.

The Garcia of old - the one who no longer enjoyed the game - would never have reacted in such a way.

The area Garcia holds the biggest advantage over his rivals in has become increasingly irrelevant during the course of his career - while the weakness he most suffered with is frequently the difference between the field and the winner each week.

A few years older, a few years wiser - having gone through the dark days, maybe now Garcia is no longer the mentally fragile man he once was. What is left, as these two weeks have shown, is a formidable golfer the match of anyone else in the world.

"I'm enthusiastic again, I've regained the desire to play the game," he said recently. "I want to get back where I believe I belong. It's a little like, not being reborn, but coming back to life. I've been through two complicated years on and off the course. They've been tough but good years at the same time.

"They've helped me to learn a lot about myself, not just in golf, but on a personal level."

The way he held up at Valderrama suggests that might just be the truth. If it is, well, in 2012 the rest of the field might do well to watch out.

Garcia's major dream might not be over; instead, he might be better placed than ever to finally realise it.

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