WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2022

Sergio Garcia

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. What an exciting match here in the second round. After 13, Morikawa makes that birdie putt and is 3-up on you. How do you fashion that comeback on the back nine?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I mean, obviously he was playing well. I felt like I obviously had a couple iffy holes there, but for the most part I felt like I played well at the beginning. I hit a lot of good putts. Unfortunately just nothing wanted to drop. So I kind of kept telling myself, just give yourself more chances, keep hitting good putts, and eventually they'll have to drop.

To be able to make that one on 14 was big because it was tough with the wind, a left-to-right putt that you have to hit, that you have to hit almost straight because the wind is pushing is back, and then obviously the one on 15 after he made that bomb for par, that was massive. Yeah, just a shame that I left it just in the jaws just short on 17. Obviously didn't hit a great drive on 18 but came back nicely.

Q. If you could, describe the escape on 18 because your ball was within rocks and mulch, there were trees there and yet you used that low trajectory to get it on the green and made that three and a half footer to ensure the half point.

SERGIO GARCIA: Yes. Obviously I had a little bit of a rock behind my ball, so I had to get quite steep with a 52. When I hit it, the way it came out, as low as it came out, I thought it had a chance to get to the top, but unfortunately it didn't. Obviously I was happy with the shot that I hit there because it was not easy at all.

I had a good feeling about the putt. I just misread it. I thought it was going to go a little bit left to right and it actually went a lot. Yeah, nice to make that three-footer.

Q. Given where you were in that match, can you take something out of the idea of how you fought back?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, for sure. If you would offer me a tie, a half on the 14th tee, I would have definitely taken it and walked, run to the clubhouse.

Obviously, yeah, I got on a great run on 14, 15, 16, 17, and you can think what a shame that I hit that putt on 17 just a tiny bit short right in the middle of the hole and he made a great par putt. But you've got to expect that he's going to make it.

But it was a hard-played match, and I'm not going to lie, I'm happy with the half. I would have loved to get a win, but I'm happy with the half.

Q. If you felt momentum change in your direction at all, where would that have been?

SERGIO GARCIA: Hard to say. I think funny enough, probably 11 was a big moment for me to finally -- I felt like I hit a lot of good putts until that hole and didn't really make anything, so to be able to make that one to stay 3 down instead of going 4-down on the 12th tee and then winning the next obviously, then he came back and won 13, but then I got on my good run and I was able to come back and halve the match.

Q. Can you walk us through the approach shot on the last, kind of what was going through your mind?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, first thing that was going through my mind was why don't you make a better swing off the tee. But obviously I had a rock a little bit behind my ball, so I knew I had to get steep. The good thing is I had an opening, so I didn't have a tree in front, so that was nice. But I had to get really, really steep with my 52. When I actually hit it, the way it came out, I thought it had a chance of getting to the top and getting fairly close to the hole, but unfortunately it didn't. But I definitely would have taken it -- before I hit it, I would have taken it where it was.

Q. What club and how many yards did you have?

SERGIO GARCIA: I had 113 yards into the wind and it was like a back-foot 52 degree.

Q. Where does that rank amongst recovery shots that you've had? You've had some pretty impressive ones.

SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. I mean, it wasn't super difficult. Probably the lie kind of made it a little bit tougher and the situation probably made it a little bit tougher, but I've had a lot tougher shots than that.

But you still have to get there and hit the shot and hit a good shot and give yourself a chance because obviously if I don't hit a good shot, then it's so much easier for him to go out there and hit it very close.

That obviously puts a little bit of pressure on him and it gives me a little bit more of a chance.

Q. Is this the kind of tournament where if you get a few results and maybe make a run in the knockouts that it could jump start the rest of your game and carry you on to the stroke play stuff?

SERGIO GARCIA: Hopefully. I think -- I feel like I've been playing okay. Not to my standards, not amazing. I'm missing a couple shots here and there that I usually don't hit, so obviously that's a little bit of a lack of confidence.

But I definitely feel like I'm not getting the results when I'm hitting the ball well that maybe I should have.

You've just got to keep going at it, keep trying, and hope that things can start happening a little bit. Kind of like it did on the last five or six holes.

Q. Do you have any different strategy when you're playing somebody like Collin who's playing so well?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, it's simple. You know when you're playing a guy like Collin that is so solid and such a good player, you know that you're going to have to play well and you're going to have to make some putts if you want to beat him. He's not going to give many things away. I felt like I did that on the first seven holes, seven, eight holes. Unfortunately it just lacked the ball dropping in the hole. It was as simple as that. But I'm very happy with the way I putted. Don't get me wrong. I hit a lot of great-looking putts that were just burning the edge, just short, maybe just lip-out, things like that. It wasn't like they were bad putts, it was just one of those days where it took a little longer than I wanted for the ball to start dropping.

Q. With the major season starting in just a couple weeks, do you feel like your game can get back to where it was when you won the Masters?

SERGIO GARCIA: It still needs to improve. I'm not going to lie. I feel like it's kind of getting there but still needs to improve. There's still some things that I need to get better at, and hopefully in the next week and a half we can figure it out.