Editor's Note: (Catch Masters champions Sergio Garcia and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson on June's Living Golf. All times GMT: Jun 08: 0930, 1630; Jun 10: 0630, 2130; Jun 11: 1630; Jun 17: 1630; Jun 18: 0630)
(CNN) Sergio Garcia had saddled up 73 times trying to win a major golf tournament and fallen short 73 times.
But there was something different on his side as he negotiated the revered contours of Augusta National during this year's Masters: destiny.
"I believe that things happen for a reason," Garcia told CNN's Living Golf show of his landmark triumph. "I believe that for some reason, I was meant to win.
"I felt great throughout the whole week. I believe that everything that happened throughout my career, good and bad, made the win at the Masters even better. Now we can really appreciate how hard it is and how sweet it is to have it.
"It seemed like things just were meant to happen for me that week, because everything that needed to happen, happened at the right time. Thanks to that we were able to win it."
Sergio Garcia: The highs and lows
It took Sergio Garcia 74 major tournaments to win his first. But finally, earlier this year, that much sought after victory came at Augusta in the Masters.
In beating Justin Rose in a playoff, Garcia put an end to years of agony and near-misses at majors.
Aged just 19, making his debut at a major, Garcia finished second to Tiger Woods at the USPGA Championships. It was to be the first of four runner-up finishes for the Spaniard at the sport's four marquee tournaments.
A few weeks later, he went on to become the youngest player to compete in a Ryder Cup, when Europe was narrowly edged out 14.5-13.5 having lead the USA in the closing stages.
Garcia recorded his first of 10 PGA Tour victories in 2001, at the MasterCard Colonial (now the Dean & DeLuca Invitational) event, ahead of Brian Gay and Phil Mickleson.
Certainly the most agonizing defeat of his career came at The Open in 2007. Having held a commanding lead over most of the field, slip-ups in the final round forced Garcia into a playoff with Padraig Harrington -- the Irishman eventually emerging victorious.
A familiar feeling came the following year, when Garcia again sacrificed a lead at a major -- the US PGA Championship -- to Harrington.
But there were successes that year, too -- a play-off victory over Paul Goydos at the Players Championship...
... and winning the HSBC Champions tournament helped Garcia climb to a career high of second in the world rankings.
Finishing two shots behind Rory McIlroy at The Open in 2014 meant more frustration at majors for Garcia.
But that proved to be his most recent runner-up finish. Eighteen years of being tagged the nearly man of golf came to an end.
Those tumultuous four days in April served as a microcosm of an often torturous 18-year pursuit of a first major championship.
Garcia had come agonizingly close to realizing his dream on several occasions.
READ: Garcia hails "special" win on Seve's birthday
He shot to prominence at the 1999 US PGA Championship, aged just 19, but ended up on the wrong side of a duel with 14-time major champion Tiger Woods.
He would also finish runner-up at the 2008 installment after squandering a lead to Padraig Harrington and he missed a putt to win the 2007 Open, eventually losing out to the Irishman in a playoff.
Ebullient and emotional in equal measure, Garcia collected an army of fans along the way who willed him to go again when he declared after an especially demoralizing Saturday at the 2012 Masters: "I'm not good enough."
READ: "I was fed up with just being good," world No. 1 Dustin Johnson
A thrilling final day five years on saw Garcia extend his lead, relinquish it, then battle back to parity with his main rival for the title, Justin Rose. When he missed a putt to win on the final green, many thought Garcia was destined to be the bridesmaid yet again.
But the 37-year-old held his nerve to beat Rose on the first playoff hole and delight those who'd ridden the rollercoaster with him.
"I'm definitely very proud of what I've been able to achieve," he explained.
"Winning Augusta was something spectacular and amazing. And to see, not only how great it felt for me and my team, but for so many people.
"I've seen so many great gestures of people of how happy they were when they saw me win and that means a lot."
The Masters 2017
Sergio Garcia of Spain celebrates with the Masters Trophy during the Green Jacket ceremony after he won in a playoff during the final round of the 2017 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday, April 9, in Augusta, Georgia.
Garcia embraces fiancee Angela Akins after winning his first major title in a playoff with England's Justin Rose for the Masters.
Olympic champion Rose won the 2013 US Open and was bidding to become the first European to win the Masters and US Open in his career.
Close friends Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler were playing together in the penultimate group Sunday, with Spieth chasing a second green jacket and Fowler a first major title.
Spieth was second on his debut in 2014, won the following year and was second last year after an infamous collapse on the back nine Sunday.
The 37-year-old Garcia was chasing his first major title in 74 attempts.
Rory McIlroy posted a fourth consecutive top 10 at the Masters but needs a win to complete the career grand slam of all four major titles.
Olympic champion Justin Rose of England fires a third-round 67 to reach six under and take a share of the lead with Sergio Garcia into the final round of the Masters on Sunday.
Spain's Garcia is chasing a first major title at the 74th attempt. Could a big one finally come his way Sunday at Augusta?
Jordan Spieth, the 2015 champion, has finished no worse than second on three visits to Augusta and hit back from a quadruple-bogey nine Thursday to be within two of the lead.
Phil Mickelson was hoping to mount a challenge for a fourth Masters green jacket but struggled to catch fire Saturday and faces an eight-shot deficit to the leaders.
Rory McIlroy needs the Masters to complete the career grand slam of all four majors but says he needs "the round of my life" if he is to have a chance Sunday.
Fred Couples won the Masters 25 years ago, and the 57-year-old is in contention again, although Saturday's third round didn't quite go in the right direction.
Young American Rickie Fowler is chasing a first major title and sits one stroke off the lead heading into the climax Sunday.
Charley Hoffman hits a shot on Friday. He led by four shots when the second round started, but he came back to the field with a 3-over 75.
Garcia hits out of a bunker on Friday. He shot a 3-under 69.
Pieters lines up a putt on the 10th hole Friday.
From left, Garcia, Lee Westwood and Shane Lowry wait together on a green.
Adam Hadwin jumps across Rae's Creek while playing the 13th hole.
Paul Casey, left, and caddie John McLaren visualize a shot.
Golfers walk up to the first fairway on Friday.
William McGirt reacts to a missed birdie putt on Friday.
Ryan Moore watches a shot from the pine straw on the 17th hole.
Former Masters winner Charl Schwartzel hits a shot on No. 7.
Hoffman drives the ball on the 18th hole on Thursday, April 6. He shot a 7-under 65 to take a four-shot lead after the first round.
Billy Payne, the chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, places Arnold Palmer's jacket on a chair at the honorary start of the tournament. Palmer's wife, Kathleen, looks on. Palmer, a four-time Masters winner,
died in September at the age of 87.
Jack Nicklaus raises his cap to the sky, honoring Palmer before hitting a ceremonial tee shot.
Dustin Johnson, the world's No. 1 player, talks to the media after withdrawing from the tournament on Thursday. Johnson
hurt his back Wednesday after falling down a staircase.
Phil Mickelson reacts after making an eagle on the second hole Thursday. Mickelson, who has won the Masters three times, shot a 1-under 71.
Pieters hits a drive during the first round. The Belgian took an early morning lead and finished at even par.
McGirt lines up a putt. He finished in second place Thursday after a 3-under 69.
Jordan Spieth plays his second shot on the 18th hole Thursday. Spieth, the Masters winner in 2015, shot a 3-over 75.
The crowd watches Jason Dufner, Ernie Els and Bernd Wiesberger play the 16th hole on Thursday.
A detailed view of the main leaderboard near the first fairway.
Brandt Snedeker, left, high-fives a crew member after making a putt on the fourth hole.
A fan wears a pin in honor of Arnold Palmer.
Soren Kjeldsen plays a shot from the bunker on Thursday.
Jamie Lane, caddie for Matthew Fitzpatrick, lines up a putt.
Part of Garcia's resurgence in recent years has been credited to happiness off the course.
He is due to marry fiancee Angela Akins, a Golf Channel reporter, in July and revealed after his Masters win that she had left motivational post-it notes on his bathroom mirror during the tournament.
It might have taken the best part of two decades to land the first one, but could his Masters breakthrough open the door to more success?
"I certainly hope so," he said. "I've been close to winning four or five majors at least before winning at Augusta and unfortunately, it hasn't happened.
"But I'm excited to keep trying to improve, keep getting better keep giving myself chances to win more. Now that we have one the next step is to try to get the second one.
"It's just a matter of keep working hard, believing in our ability and what we can do and see how many we can take or how far we can go."
Life for Garcia could have taken a very different turn had he managed to get over the line in that 2008 US PGA tournament.
Having already won the low amateur medal at Augusta in 1999, his first victory as a professional came on just his sixth start.
Had he bested Woods, who would go on to prove himself one of the best the world has ever seen, it would have been seen as the natural ascension for a teenage prodigy and his life would most likely have taken a different trajectory.
"I'll definitely say that if I won a major early -- it's all speculation -- I might have taken things differently," he said. "I might not have appreciated it the way that I do now.
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"I was meant to win that one and not all the other four or five that that I had chances before. We're enjoying it as much as we can because it was hard but I think we deserved it."