By Alex Myers
On Saturday, Sergio Garcia was paired with Austin Connelly for the third round of the Italian Open. This wouldn’t be noteworthy if not for their first meeting 18 years before when Garcia was a young pro and Connelly was just a young fan. A very young fan.
Before the two teed off, Connelly’s mom, Bridget, shared this adorable photo taken at the 1999 GTE Byron Nelson Classic. At the time, Sergio Garcia was about to make his first pro start at 19 — he finished T-3 — and Connelly was all of two years old.
18 years later… @Austinconnelly9 is paired with Sergio at The Italian Open. @TaylorMadeGolf @TRAVISMATHEW @clubcorp pic.twitter.com/2wBbGYdtKe
— Bridget Connelly (@AconMom) October 13, 2017
Not surprisingly, the photo drew plenty of reaction on Twitter, including this from 2018 European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn:
Even the ever young looking @TheSergioGarcia is getting on in age.
He is paired with this guy today!!!
I feel so old ???@EuropeanTour pic.twitter.com/NAgs2kDQaP— Thomas Bjørn (@thomasbjorngolf) October 14, 2017
Garcia tried to make Bjorn feel better with this tweet:
This picture was only taken 5 years ago, not! ?? Time flies! Wow!! https://t.co/oqSCMZb8xq
— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) October 14, 2017
Neither played particularly well on Saturday with Garcia shooting 70 and Connelly, now 21, carding a 72 as both dropped well out of the top 10 entering the final round. But the two still seemed to enjoy their their reunion nearly two decades in the making:
1999: A kid and his idol
2017: Playing partners #ItalianOpen pic.twitter.com/aCuQEUDrpq— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 14, 2017
And they even recreated that adorable photo from long ago:
Sergio Garcia and Austin Connelly reminisce about their meeting 18 years ago#ItalianOpen pic.twitter.com/1JqAs69Pdm
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 14, 2017
There you go, Mrs. Connelly. That’s another keeper.
