Masters win clinched name of Sergio Garcia’s daughter

Editor’s note: From Ben Crenshaw naming his cat Bobby Jones to Arnold Palmer coining a street Masters Boulevard, there’s no shortage of people, pets and other items named in honor of Augusta National. The Augusta Chronicle is featuring stories from six famous golfers or family members about names with ties to the Masters Tournament: Herman Keiser, Georgia Hall, Sergio Garcia, Mark O’Meara, Palmer and the Davis Love family.

What began as an unlucky break for Sergio Garcia concluded as the namesake for his daughter.

Standing on the No. 13 tee box, the Spaniard trailed Justin Rose by two strokes with six holes remaining in the 2017 Masters. Garcia had bogeyed Nos. 10 and 11, and his tee shot on the par-5 No. 13 – which Augusta National Golf Club appropriately calls Azalea – clipped a tree branch and landed in an azalea bush. As Garcia took a penalty drop from an unplayable lie, his 0-for-73 streak in major championships seemed destined for 74.

“I kept believing in myself and kept telling myself it’s your time and you’re playing great,” Garcia said of his mindset after his penalty drop onto the Augusta pine straw.

Garcia’s third shot found the fairway. His fourth landed seven feet from the pin. His fifth fell in. Par.

He fist-pumped his way toward the No. 14 tee and played his next two holes in 3-under to force a sudden-death playoff with Rose. Garcia birdied the opening hole to secure victory.

Fortunately for Garcia, his now-wife, Angela Akins Garcia, had concocted a plan to name their first child in honor of where her groom won his first major championship.

“I hoped it wasn’t Shinnecock,” Garcia joked, referencing the famous golf club in New York.

Garcia and Akins were married in July 2017, three months after his win at Augusta. Their daughter, Azalea Adele Garcia, was born March 14, 2018, in Austin, Texas.

“First of all, because we thought it was a very pretty name,” Garcia said. “You write it the same way in English and in Spanish, which is great.”

There was another reason why Azalea stood out: That par from the pine straw. That unlucky break that began in – of all places – an azalea bush. The penalty stroke. Finally, his 7-foot putt to save par.

“It’s the hole (Azalea) that kind of turned things around in the final round,” Garcia said. “It kind of got me going to be able to win the Masters.”

At less than one month old, Azalea Garcia attended her first Masters in 2018 with her father as the defending champion.