LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England – Sergio Garcia has always attracted a large gallery.
Even during his two practice rounds at his first British Open, at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 1996 when he was a precocious 16-year-old amateur.
But they may have been drawn to the man he was playing with — Seve Ballesteros.
Garcia recalled Wednesday that "we had a great time. I remember the energy that the people gave to him and how excited everyone was," but "I was the one fortunate enough to be walking inside the ropes. It was something unique."
Ballesteros died in May last year following a three-year battle with a cancerous brain tumor. But his memory lives on, nowhere more so than at Lytham, the venue of his two British Open titles.
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