Sergio Garcia showed up at Southern Hills this week with a little extra baggage in the form of a large chip on his shoulder.

Three weeks after losing the British Open in a playoff to Padraig Harrington, Garcia met with the media for the first time to discuss his failure at Carnoustie.

Three weeks ago, Garcia came off like a whiny child, blaming forces out of his control for his inability to nail down his first major championship.

Garcia insisted nobody gets as many bad breaks as he does, and he never once acknowledged Harrington's strong play or his own failures. (On Saturday, another "bad break" happened when Garcia was disqualified from the PGA Championship for signing an incorrect scorecard. His playing partner, Boo Weekley, put down the wrong score for the 17th hole, but Garcia failed to see the boo-boo.)

When he met with the media this week at Southern Hills, Garcia had a new scapegoat for his latest problems — the media.

"Yeah, I was emotional," Garcia told reporters. "I opened myself up to you guys, and I said what I felt. That's pretty much it."

Once again, Garcia found a way to put the blame for his troubles on someone else.

It wasn't that he displayed a lack of maturity and sportsmanship by not congratulating Harrington. No, the media caused his problems because we actually dared to criticize him for not giving credit where credit was due.

It's just the latest in a growing series of immature outbursts by Garcia.

At the Masters several years ago, Garcia had a spectacular final round that temporarily put him in the lead.

Everyone, including Sergio, knew he wasn't going to win the tournament, but the folks at Augusta National believed his strong play was newsworthy so they brought him into the media center for a chat.

Instead of being pleased with his strong final round and talking about how he could build on it in future events, Garcia opted to slam the media for criticizing his play earlier in the tournament.

To his credit, once he has time to cool down, Garcia usually sees the error of his ways and apologizes.

During his news conference at this week's PGA, Garcia went out of his way to praise Harrington.

"I didn't win the British Open. Padraig did, and he deserved it," Garcia said. "He played very, very well all week. But I was the only one who had the winning putt in regulation. And to me, you know, that means a lot."

Had Garcia uttered this same statement in the media center at Carnoustie, he would have been praised for his fine sportsmanship and his continuing maturity as a player.

There's no doubt that Garcia is an incredibly talented golfer who should win more than one major during his career.

His switch to a long putter seems to have greatly improved his putting, which should greatly enhance his chances of nailing down his first major championship.

But that talent also draws a lot of attention. We don't speculate on who is the best average player never to win a major.

But we do discuss who is the best player never to win a major.

For a long time Phil Mickelson had that honor, one he finally discarded with his win at Augusta in 2004.

With Harrington now in the majors' winner circle, most of us believe Garcia is the best to have never won a major.

He's winless in 34 major tournaments, and until he wins a major, he will have to answer questions about that.

If he's wise, he will take a page out of Mickelson's book and just roll with the questions, biding his time until that final putt does actually drop and he is crowned a major champion.

Garcia needs to grow up and take responsibility for his actions. Judging on his progress with that so far, my 18-month-old son will probably accomplish that before Garcia does.

— Bob Buttitta is The Star's golf columnist. E-mail address: bbuttitta@VenturaCountyStar.com.