MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2021

Sergio Garcia

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you assess the way the course is playing and how you played today on it?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, the course was playing tough. Obviously it was quite breezy, a little gusty, and the greens obviously are very firm and fast, which is great. The fairways are a little bit soft for my liking, so I would have liked to see the whole course playing fast.

But other than that, it was good. It was just playing tough. Unfortunately didn't start very well. I didn't drive the ball very well today, and I guess they didn't really want to give me anything. Every time I was in the trees I had pretty much no shot.

That's the way it is. I fought hard, but I don't know, I feel like just came out of the ring with Evander Holyfield, like a 12-round match. I need to go home and rest.

Q. You won this thing in '17 and last year you weren't able to play it because of COVID, so what was it like to be back out here with the two-year layoff? Was there anything that caught you off guard?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, not really. It was great. I was very excited about it. I had three very good practice rounds, and unfortunately I don't know why today I just wasn't able to swing as well as I did on the practice rounds, and because of that, the way the course was playing, it just punished me. I still fought really hard, tried to keep my round in check, I guess, and that's what it was.

Q. Since your win here four years ago your results in majors have been struggling a little bit. Do you have an answer for that at all?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, obviously the first one is unfortunately signed with the wrong company, and that took confidence off me. And the only thing you can do is build back up. The only way to do it is by kind of doing it over and over. I feel like we're getting better, and it's just a shame. It was one of those days where a couple of things could have gone my way and then probably I can manage to shoot somewhere around even par, which is a great round, but unfortunately those things didn't happen, and then when I missed, I just couldn't recover it.

Q. Did the firmness surprise you?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, no, because Monday and Tuesday was like that. Yesterday they were a little bit softer, not a lot but a little bit softer. But no, I think it's the way it should be played. I'm not going to come here and I'm going to say, oh, the greens were too fast or too firm or something like that. No, I think the Masters with good weather should be played like that.

I would love to see the fairways play faster. You know, it seems like the fairways are soft and you're even getting mud balls even though there hasn't been any rain, and the greens are firm and fast, which is the way they should be. That would be the only -- if I'm getting picky, that would be the only thing. But other than that, I thought this is the way the course should be played.