Plenty of parallels in struggles of Scott, Garcia

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Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott have both gone winless throughout the world in 2009.

With the headlines? The Q-factors? The breakups? The utter frustration of feeling like you're so close only to realize you're so far away? The heartbreak?

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Pick one and jump right in. There's no easy or simple way to explain this one.

Talk about your world turning upside down. About right being left. About hard work translating into a whole lot of nothing.

It's been one kerfuffle of a year for Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia. The buddies could lean on each other, but the way things are going, they'd both collapse.

The two heartthrobs -- just ask any Gossip Girl fan or People editor -- can't get a break. Unless you count those gashes in their hearts.

Both have sighed long and hard over how rough it's been to deal with breakups with their longtime girlfriends Morgan-Leigh Norman (Garcia) and Marie Kojar (Scott). Neither have been able to do a whole lot on the course since.

Oh, Garcia did win last fall's HSBC Champions, but it's been a struggle since. A step forward, two back. And when he did challenge at the Wyndham Championship two weeks ago? He slipped in the final round and finished fourth. And, even though he's still ranked seventh in the world, his heart hasn't been in it much of the year.

He showed a spark with an opening 65 last week, but slid back into the pack. He did move up 18 spots to 71st, but still has work to do this week at the Deutsche Bank Championship just to make it to the BMW Championship -- the third leg of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

Scott can only wish for a season like that. He tied for second at the Sony Open to start the season, but made headlines on the beach and at dinner with Kate Hudson. Just friends, he said. Now, he's got the paparazzi watching him snapping him with tennis poster girl Ana Ivanovic.

His season? Dismal. He broke his hand last summer before the U.S. Open and missed the cut in three of the four majors this year. His lone finish was a T36 at the U.S. Open. He's fallen from third in the world before last year's Open to 53rd and, after missing the cut last week at The Barclays, he has the rest of the playoffs off.

He made headlines a few weeks ago when he decided to take a break with longtime swing coach Butch Harmon and he'll likely make more at this week's U.S. Open where Ivanovic is playing.

What he wants is his game back.

Just where it went? There could be so many things. He threw out a 61 on his way to a win in Qatar in January 2008 but hasn't putted well since he drained that exclamation point to win the '08 EDS Byron Nelson Championship. After that 45-footer with six feet of break that had to come over a ridge . . . well, it's been a little hit and a lot of miss. As in 10 missed cuts in his last 14 events.

As for Garcia, we figured that '08 win at THE PLAYERS would make the difference. It almost did at last year's PGA Championship, but Padraig Harrington just outplayed him. It was the first of three runner-up finishes (he lost playoffs at The Barclays and TOUR Championship) in his last five TOUR events last year.

This year? His best major finish was a share of 10th at the U.S. Open. And he, too, missed the cut at the PGA Championship.

We keep saying they're both too talented not to grab one of the big four, yet they haven't. Garcia is, it would seem, the perfect blend of countrymen Jose Maria Olazabal's (determination) and Seve Ballesteros (flair). And Scott? His mentor is Greg Norman and he's got one of the best caddies in the business in Tony Navarro.

They've been majors-in-waiting so long now we forget they're thirtysomething. OK. Twenty-nine and counting. And, for the record, Garcia, the outspoken extrovert, is six months older than the soft-spoken, almost shy, Scott.

The clock? It's ticking. Garcia has come oh-so close. There was the split-legged-leap year at the 1999 PGA Championship, last year's PGA Championship and the 2007 playoff loss to Harrington at the Open Championship. And 13 other top 10s.

Scott has just four top 10s, the best was a share of third at the 2006 PGA Championship. Not the record you'd have predicted after Scott finished in a tie for ninth at his first Masters.

But right now, majors aren't the biggest concern. Playing well is.

Scott is on the TOUR bench for the next four weeks and declined to play in the European Masters, but could still -- if he plays in the Singapore Open -- qualify for the Race to Dubai. Garcia has a shot to make it to the THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, but it starts this week. He finished in a tie for eighth last year and a repeat could be just the spark to turn the year around.

If not? He could join Scott on the sideline and head to Flushing Meadows, too, where he could cheer on buddy Rafael -- he's calls him Rafa -- Nadal.

The bottom line? The season's been a heartbreaker for both of them. And 2010? It can't get here soon enough.

The key here? They can work their games out of funks. They can tweak their swings and put in the time on their short games. But the breakups? They need to find a way to get over them for good and move on.

And if and when they do . . . we just might see a few more wins and watch them chasing majors once again.

Melanie Hauser is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.