thereafter.García’s view of the Masters, and his zeal to play in it, has changed considerably since the 2017 tournament, the only major victory of a luminous career that needed a signature moment. His success that year was, apparently, all about the little things.Updated March 13, 2021, 6:24 p.m. ETThe Masters had not been kind to García in his 18 appearances before 2017. He finished inside the top 10 three times and outside the top 30 a dozen times.García likes to fade the ball, and the Augusta National Golf Club, the site of the Masters, favors those who draw their shots. After a while, García’s slumped-shoulder body language at Augusta National shouted despair the moment he emerged from his car in the club parking lot. But with an infusion of positivity from Angela, then his fiancée, García proved resilient, even emboldened. Despite a couple of notable final-round stumbles in 2017, he mounted a surprising rally to win in a playoff.Now he speaks of the Masters as if it were his favorite place to compete.García’s withdrawal last fall ended his streak of 84 consecutive majors championships played, which dated to 1999, when he was only 19. García still had a long way to tie Jack Nicklaus’s record 146 consecutive majors played, but he was only four major appearances from passing Tom Watson for the second-most consecutive majors played.“It was disappointing, I’m not going to lie,” he said of the end of his streak.
