BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 28, 2021

Sergio Garcia

Caves Valley Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. If you can just recap your round for us, please.

SERGIO GARCIA: Yes, solid round. I played nicely. I probably played better than yesterday. Unfortunately -- I mean, I made some good putts, don't get me wrong, but I had probably four -- at least four lip-outs that I can recall, and it would have been nice to make a couple more of those and get a little bit higher up.

Everyone is playing great, and you have to go out there and make a lot of birdies, and that's all you can do.

Q. Is that fun golf when you know you have to shoot 65, or is it pressure? How do you feel about the perspective --

SERGIO GARCIA: If you're playing well, it's fun, obviously. But it's not my favorite kind of golf. I like when it's a bit more challenging and it's not just putting, which obviously don't misinterpret me, you still have to hit the shots.

That's what's impressive to me, that -- yeah, the course is playing fairly simple. There's a little bit of wind but not much. Fairways are not running too much, so you can hit a lot of fairways, but you still have to hit the shots. There's some tee shots that are not quite as easy and there's some shots into some of the greens that are not quite as easy but everyone seems to be doing it really well.

Q. Do you think it's possible at this time of year and considering the region that we play the Playoffs in to have firm courses, to have a test that's anything more than where guys are going to throw a lot of birdies on the birdie?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yes, it definitely would be nice. I remember, for example, 2008 when I almost won the FedExCup, I remember when we played in New Jersey. I can't remember -- I can't recall the name of the course. But it played firm. It was like an old traditional kind of course, small greens, and it played tough. I remember I was playing really well, and three of us went to a playoff with not too many under.

Yeah, you probably -- don't get me wrong, probably the PGA TOUR wants them to be a little bit like that. They probably don't want as many under par in the Playoffs. But sometimes you can't control it. I guess you can only get the course as firm as they can.

But at the end of the day, everyone is just much better than they ever were.

Q. We've talked to some people in here who said they judge their season by whether or not they make the TOUR Championship. Is that something you do? How important is it just to get to Atlanta?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I wouldn't say that I judge my season just by if I make the TOUR Championship or not. Obviously if I make the TOUR Championship, I know that I've had a really good season because it's not easy to get there. I definitely look at it that way.

But you can still have a very good season without making the TOUR Championship.

The Playoffs nowadays, they're so volatile. There's so many changes that can happen with somebody being 105th in the FedExCup and having a great week and all of a sudden he jumps to 15th or 10th or something like that or even better. Obviously that is difficult to adjust to sometimes, but like I said, hopefully I'll make it to the TOUR Championship again and enjoy it there.

Q. The fifth hole you got up-and-down for birdie --

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, that was one of the best up-and-downs, that one and 17, obviously. Yeah, I think it was an important moment because I made a great birdie on 1. Played the second hole quite well and unfortunately didn't get a great bounce on my chip and hit a great putt and lipped out, then three-putted 3, then hit another great putt on 4 and lipped out for birdie. You know, it felt like I was letting the birdie holes kind of get away from me.

Then when I hit it a little right there on 5, I knew it was going to be a tough test. But hit a great chip, pretty much probably as good as I could do it, and rolled that putt in there beautifully, so that kind of got me going there a little bit.