LIV GOLF ANDALUCíA

July 12, 2024

Sergio Garcia

Real Club Valderrama

Fireballs GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: The captain of Fireballs GC and local hometown hero, Sergio Garcia. Amazing day. You're currently sitting at T-4, you shot 2-under. Only nine people shot par or better today. So tell us about your round and how you did it.

SERGIO GARCÍA: Well, first thing I'm going to say is that whoever thinks there's no level up here, there's no competition, they better check it out. Because for eight guys or nine guys to shoot under par here today in these conditions on this golf course, I mean, I thought 2-under would probably be around the lead and I'm three shots behind.

So it's pretty impressive.

THE MODERATOR: So what did you have to do out there today to get that score?

SERGIO GARCÍA: A lot of good things. Obviously I hit the ball really good. I hit it very, very well but even like that, in these conditions with the greens as firm as they are and how tricky it is with the gusting winds and everything, I probably hit, I don't know, I'm going to say I missed probably -- I probably missed about eight greens and probably six of them I missed them hitting good shots. I hit the shot that I wanted to hit but it was just difficult to get it exactly right.

But I was able to get up-and-down a few times. Obviously got fortunate on 7 with my chip-in and it was a solid day overall, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Can you give your quick thoughts on being here in Valderrama, the crowds and being home in Spain and what feelings that brings up for you today?

SERGIO GARCÍA: Yeah, it's amazing, obviously, to be back at home in Spain and on my favourite golf course, it's a dream come true for me. Hopefully we can be here for many, many years. That would be amazing. But you never know.

Yeah, I obviously love it here. Not only because of the golf course but the crowds, the family, the friends that come and watch.

So it's fun.

Q. You've had so many rounds on this course. Where does today rank in terms of difficulty?

SERGIO GARCÍA: Well, I was talking to Jon a lot, and I said to him early on, I think it was like on the second or third hole. I said, you can definitely see the teeth at Valderrama today. I said not probably the whole mouth but you can definitely see the teeth.

He was like, "You don't think this is the whole mouth?"

I was like, "No, I've played tougher than this."

It was up there. It was solid. But I probably would say that the other wind, as hard as this, is probably a tougher wind to play the golf course.

Q. How much did your experience play a part in your round today? Were there times when you drew upon previous rounds?

SERGIO GARCÍA: Yeah, is obviously helps. When you've played a course a lot and you've done well in it, it obviously helps, doesn't mean it's a done deal but for sure it helps and it definitely helped today. I was able to hit some shots that I could recollect from past rounds here. But like I said earlier, on these conditions, when it's gusting so much, you still have to be very precise with everything you do, and I was able to do that for most of the day.

Q. Have you ever had a hole-out where it just spun multiple times?

SERGIO GARCÍA: No. No. It's funny because like I was saying earlier, I hit a great drive. The wind is supposed to be helping off the right and I hit a beautiful 52-degree that is supposed to at least fly hole-high. Obviously the wind switched, flew short and it spun back 30 yards short of the green.

So from then, from there, you have a very tough shot. You know, you can try to kind of bounce it off the green a couple of times and hopefully it checks and stuff, and that's what I tried to do. It bounced a little harder but I could see it from down there spinning on the hole. It looked like it spun at least six or seven times. So it was funny but I'm glad it did it. It would have been seven or eight yards by. I was very pleased to see that happen.