AUGUSTA — Perusing the alphabetical list of invitees to The Masters, there was a double-take at the name just below Sergio Garcia. It was Robert Garrigus with 12 in parentheses.
The numerals beside each player’s name correlate to the various ways a golfer can earn an invitation. For example, both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have seven numbers after their names.
In June 2010, Garrigus earned an unwanted Jean van de Velde loser label, somehow frittering away a three-shot lead on the final hole of the St. Jude Classic in Memphis. At that point, there was a mental note that he would never accomplish something worthy of a Masters invite, a perception that Garrigus reinforced when he three-putted the second extra hole to lose a playoff to Jonathan Byrd in January of 2011.
Rory McIlroy was so dominant in the U.S. Open last June that Garrigus’ tie for third was overlooked. That’s where the (12) comes in — the top eight in the Open get in The Masters the following year.
Come to find out, Garrigus is much more than a one-week wonder. He’s played in eight events this year, finished second twice, and earned $935,363. Last year, he had three top 10s and banked $1.5 million. In November 2010, he won a PGA Tour event in Florida, a victory that was lost in the abundance of football scores, but important to Garrigus because it secured his Tour card. He began the tournament dangerously close to finishing outside the top 125 — the cutoff for full PGA Tour status — and he began the final round four shots behind Roland Thatcher.
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No matter what they say, athletes pay attention to what is said or written about them. Somebody familiar with Garrigus said the day after the Memphis meltdown, the golfer heard Michael Wilbon on ESPN saying something to the effect that Garrigus would never be heard from again. “I know that was some inspiration to him,” said Simon Bray, an analyst with TVG who follows Garrigus because Garrigus’s mother follows horse racing on TVG. Garrigus has hired a fitness coach and lost 15-20 pounds, Bray said.
After his lone PGA Tour victory, Garrigus said, “it feels great to be able to close this one off and figuratively shut everybody up about Memphis.” Until that day, references to Garrigus usually included Memphis, the fact that he was the longest hitter on Tour two years in a row, and that his 28-inch putter is one of the shortest.
This year, he is second in driving, averaging almost 307 yards per, but, more impressively, he is seventh in greens in regulation, a notch behind Woods. Garrigus, Woods, and the other bombers have an advantage at Augusta National, particularly on the par-fives. Since 1942, Nos. 15, 13, 2, and 8 — all par fives — have played as the 18th, 17th, 16th, and 15th easiest holes on the course, each averaging less 4.85 strokes.
“It’s a big golf course for me,” Jim Furyk said this week. “I end up trying to hit it too hard and too high, and end up getting outside my realm.”
Appreciated as much as his edgy post-victory comment was the way Garrigus handled the playoff with Byrd. With a chance to win on the 72nd hole, he lipped out a 12-foot eagle putt. Instead of tamping down an imaginary spike mark or suggesting that the putt took an impossible break, he said, “I just hit that putt too hard.”
He added, “I’ve lost about 133 golf tournaments, and it’s not that big a deal. That’s golf.”
One of more than a dozen players making their Masters debut, Garrigus is bucking a stout trend. No first-time participant has won a green jacket since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.