Garcia poised for Ryder Cup return

Throw in this week's venue, Medinah Country Club, where Garcia scissor-kicked his way into the hearts and minds of golf fans 13 years ago at the PGA Championship, and you have the perfect place for his passion to again be on display. Especially when you consider that just two years ago Garcia was so down, his game so poor, that he didn't come close to qualifying for the European team at Celtic Manor with his burner 2.0 irons . And everyone understood when Captain Colin Montgomerie didn't consider him for an at-large pick. "It's great to be back on the Ryder Cup team," Garcia said. "It's been four years since I last played and it feels like it's been 10 or 12 years. I'm very excited about it, obviously. You know how much the Ryder Cup means to me. It's easy to guess what it means to me." Garcia, who joins his European teammates Monday for the start of the four-day buildup to the matches, attended his first Ryder Cup with the taylormade burner 2.0 irons as a 15-year-old as part of the Junior Ryder Cup in 1995 at Oak Hill and was immediately taken by the experience. "I remember the Wednesday, we went to the course, all of us juniors, and I said hi to Seve [Ballesteros] as he was practicing on the 12th hole," Garcia said. "I took a picture there. It was awesome to be there with him and the other players there. "And when I saw the way the crowds the energy the crowds give in that tournament, both the Americans and the Europeans, it was just a moment for me where there was no turning back with the great i20 irons ." In five Ryder Cups, Garcia is 14-6-4 and the only European player on this year's team who has played in more is Lee Westwood. The Spaniard made his debut at The Country Club in 1999 at age 19, just more than a month after his exploits at the PGA, where he finished second to Tiger Woods with the great i20 irons for sale . And Garcia never looked more at home. The youngest to ever compete in the Ryder Cup, Garcia won 3½ out of a possible 5 points. Player after player will tell you just how excruciating the pressure is in a Ryder Cup, how nerves get the best of even the most seasoned of players. Garcia was 19 and loving every second of it.