‘The perfect captain': How Sergio Garcia is lifting Fireballs GC behind the scenes
The members of Fireball GC — Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer, David Puig and Luis Masaveu — sat down for dinner at their rental house by the beach in Adelaide, Australia with their chef prepping something to fuel a long, hot and hectic weekend.
It was the type of dinner that most athletes will tell you provides some of the fondest moments of their career — a meal with teammates. Simple but important; it's not about the food but the relationships, the laughs and the stories.
It's the type of moment some golfers never experience.
No doubt, that's why Garcia, the 45-year-old team captain, arranged to rent this house for the team for the last few years in Australia. Early in the LIV Golf season, it allows a group of individual-sport athletes to bond with their team and begin to think of themselves as a unit.
[Read more: Sergio Garcia's Fireballs GC wins second straight at LIV Golf Hong Kong]
The Fireballs only rent a house together for some tournaments, but they hold team dinners almost every night on tournament weekends. Those meals give Garcia a chance to maximize his role as captain.
"The atmosphere [at the house] within the team is just amazing. The fun we have, the quality of guys that I have in my team, not only as players but as people, as human beings — it's unbelievable. And that's one of the things I'm most proud about," Garcia said after Fireballs GC won the team title in Adelaide last month.
The Fireballs were back on the podium the following weekend as back-to-back team champions with a win in LIV Hong Kong at Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui.
Garcia led the way with a first-place finish at 18-under par. He is now the No. 1 golfer in LIV's individual standings while the Fireballs sit in the No. 1 spot in the team standings. Perhaps it's a testament to the care Garcia takes in finding time for his game — and the game of others.
Masaveu, the youngest golfer on the team at 22 years old, opened LIV Hong Kong with an outstanding first round at 5-under on Friday, but slumped on Saturday with a second-round score of 3-over. Garcia was there to pick up his fellow Spaniard, Masaveu. And perhaps that helped steady the youngster golfer's performance for Sunday when he landed at even-par.
"Obviously, I don't try to force anything," Garcia said when asked about his leadership advice. "But I always tell them, 'I have a couple comments. Do you want me to tell you?' And then if they want it, I'll tell them. But more than anything, I just want them to get to where I am — or better than where I am — faster than I did. So I just give them some of the things that I've gone through and try to give them as much help as I can."
When Masaveu told his story about Garcia's support, their teammate Puig, 23, and also from Spain, nodded along in agreement.
"I think for me, it's how much he cares, especially on those bad days. And when you know when you play good, it's pretty easy, but what when you have tough days or bad days, even if he has a bad day, he still comes to you and talks to you and asks you, 'What happened?' Or: 'What was wrong?'" Puig said. "When you're having a tough moment, he's the first guy that is going to be there by your side and just the support is amazing."
For Garcia, it's about winning the LIV team competition. But it's also about paying it forward to a new generation of Spanish golfers. He remembered when he was coming up on the PGA Tour and José Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros took Garcia under their wing from his twenties into his early thirties. For that, Garcia was forever grateful. Now he can play that role with Puig and Masaveu.
"For me, it's a treat," Garcia said. "It just feels right."
But he's not playing favorites with the two Spaniards. Ancer gets plenty of mentorship, too. It's just that, at 34, he has more experience. But Ancer pointed to their practice rounds together when Garcia ramps up competitiveness and gets the team pushing each other on every hole.
"He's a perfect role model to follow," Ancer said. "I think he's the perfect captain."
Garcia is no stranger to the team format. He has played on Ryder Cup teams since 1999, with a pair of absences in 2010 and 2023. He is 25-13-7 in that span. And he's made it clear he wants to get back on the Ryder Cup team for 2025. He's hoping that performances like the one he had in Hong Kong will help remind the European team that he's in good form. Garcia was asked whether he thought European captain Luke Donald might've taken note of Garcia's round.
"I think he's watching. We've been in touch, so I know that he's keeping an eye," Garcia said.
In the meantime, Garcia is keeping an eye on his own game, which his teammates said was among the best in the world.
"He's a machine," Masaveu said in Hong Kong on the winner's podium.
"Sergio, this weekend, played unbelievable," Puig said.
Garcia said he is focused on LIV Singapore and LIV Miami — on the immediate horizon over the next four weeks.
But he couldn't help but look toward The Masters, which will be his 100th major, a number that he's "super proud of." He should be right in the mix at Augusta, where he won in 2017. Because for all that he's doing for his teammates to help them win, his game looks as good as it has in years.
Prior to joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna .
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