SLYNC.IO DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

January 26, 2022

Sergio Garcia

Emirates Golf Club

Press Conference

TOM CARLISLE: Welcome so the Slync.io Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA. You're a former winner here at the Emirates Golf Club, and you've had great success here in the last few years. What's it like coming back to a venue where you have played so well before?

SERGIO GARCIA: I'm excited about it. Course looks really good. Greens obviously a lot more options when it comes down to pin positions and stuff.

So the course was great. It's playing long at the moment, some long holes out there but yeah, I'm excited about it. Obviously like you said, I've done well here in the past and so it would be nice to have another good week to start the year I guess.

Q. You've had a little bit of time off since your last performance in Dubai, and you had some really good finishes. How is the feeling going into a new year?

SERGIO GARCIA: It feels good. I'm excited about it. Obviously I had a couple months off but put a little bit of work on it as soon as the new year came around. Like I said, I'm excited to keep playing well and try to climb up on the World Rankings and everything about it.

Q. Can you give us insight on to the changes they have made to this course? How are the greens feeling putting on those?

SERGIO GARCIA: They are good. You know, they are in good shape. Obviously they are very new, so they haven't quite settled yet. There's a lot of little breaks there here and there that are difficult to see. But other than that, they are nice. They are fairly firm. They are good surfaces and like I said earlier, they are bigger. The greens are bigger than they have been in a few years.

So I think that you can definitely have a lot more flexibility when it comes to setting up the golf course, probably some pin positions that we haven't seen in ten, 20 years, so it will be interesting to see how it plays.

Q. A few randomly unrelated questions, if I could. If my maths is right, this is the start of your 24th full season on The European Tour, what's the motivation for you to keep coming out here these days and performing at a top level? What are you aiming for this season?

SERGIO GARCIA: I love the game. I love the challenges that the game brings to you and I try to improve every time, every year when I come out here. At the end of the day, I think that's the most important thing, enjoying what you do, and that's a big part I didn't keep coming out here and trying to play well.

So just like I said, just keep at it, keep trying to improve, get better. Kind of have some good weeks so my World Ranking gets even better than it is at the moment, and hopefully would be nice to get some wins in there.

Q. And Europe's next Ryder Cup Captain will be named next month, we believe, and Luke Donald has emerged as a player for the role. Would Luke make a good captain, do you think?

SERGIO GARCIA: I think so, yes. Like you said, yeah, he's a good friend of mine. He has good experience playing and being a vice captain. I'm sure that he's a great candidate for it, and he can do a great job if he gets the nod for it. So excited to see what's going to happen there.

Q. He comes across to us as quite quiet and reserved. What's the truth in the team room? Is he ranting and raving? Is he a different animal in the team room?

SERGIO GARCIA: I mean, he might seem like a little shy, a little kind of closed, but he's a wonderful man. Obviously like I said earlier, a good friend of mine. He's quite funny. He's got a good sense of humour and a big heart, so those are important things to have as not only as a captain but as a person.

Q. Saudi next week, you're playing again. Just as a member of presumably both the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour, did you have to get a release to play from both or just one?

SERGIO GARCIA: From both.

Q. And what do you think of The European Tour, haven't given any conditions, but what do you think of the conditions that the PGA TOUR attached in that you need to go play Pebble Beach sometime over the next couple of seasons?

SERGIO GARCIA: We'll obviously do the best thing for us and for the Tour and we'll try to help each other and it will all be fine.

Q. You have no problem going to play Pebble Beach in the next couple of seasons?

SERGIO GARCIA: We'll see.

Q. Looking at the trophy this week, your name is on there but we see Rafa, Alvaro, Miguel, Seve and Ollie back in the day. Why do players do so well here? Is it something with the setup at Emirates Golf Club, do you feel?

SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. To be honest I wish I could tell you exactly what it is. I guess we feel comfortable here. But I don't think it's a particular reason. It's not like a typical course that you will see in Spain or something like that. We've just been fortunate to play well here and have some good weeks and hopefully we'll get even more.