For the first three days of this year’s British Open, Sergio Garcia used his new belly putter to sink seemingly every crucial putt to take a three-stroke lead into the final round. Through five holes of the final round, Garcia’s new-found putting stroke continued as he extended his lead to four strokes. But then, as Lawrence Donegan of The Guardian reports, the wheels of Garcia’s putting stroke suddenly careened into the nearest burn:

The first glimmer that the procession was heading for a few detours came on par-five 6th when he missed a four-foot putt for birdie, then barely holed the one coming back for par. The scores on the boards remained the same but the mood music had changed, from steady march to jazzy stagger. A poor approach shot to the back of the 7th green ended up costing him a shot and he dropped another at the next when he missed an eight-foot putt for par.

Which brings us to the best line that I’ve seen describing the probable result of Garcia’s fourth round putting collapse:

To [Garcia’s] credit he made a par at the next but, when he missed another short one on the 10th, shares in belly putters went the way of the Segway scooter.

By the way, my bet is that it’s just a matter of Garcia becoming comfortable with his belly putter before he wins a major tournament. He is a simply too good a ball-striker not to win at least one.
Also, did you notice how much more entertaining the British Open was in comparison to this year’s U.S. Open?