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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 8, 2008Sergio GarciaPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you for joining us for a few minutes in the media center at THE PLAYERS Championship, nice start to your week, 6-under 66, and I was noticing that you did very well on your last two rounds here in 2007. Does that kind of carry over? I guess so. This is definitely one of my favorite courses, so it's always nice to go back to a place where you've done well and you feel comfortable. You know, I'm just looking forward to keep doing the same things, keep hitting the ball well, keep chipping well and keep putting well and then hopefully by the end of the week, we'll be where we are supposed to be. Q. Why do you like the course so much? SERGIO GARCÃA: I guess it just fits my eye. I guess, you know, another course that I really like is Valderrama, and it has got some similar looks to it with the tree line and some of the greens and the undulations on them and stuff like that, small greens. I guess that's probably one of the reasons. Q. Would you compare 66 -- is this the best rounds you've played here? You're 17-under the last three rounds; how do you rank that round? SERGIO GARCÃA: Is it the best round I've played here? It's definitely one of the best. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: You had a 66 in the final round last year. SERGIO GARCÃA: I did shoot 67 last year with the double on the last, so I guess, you know, the last three rounds I played here, I played very nicely. My whole game has been good. I played very start and hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, made some good putts when I had to. So overall, you know, it makes up for a nice combination. Q. What do you work on with Stan Utley? What's the one or two things you guys have been doing to get that part straightened out? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, we work mainly on the short game, chipping and putting. I guess when we started, there were a lot of things to work on. Now there's a little less things to work on, because it keeps getting better every day. So mainly from the beginning, we started -- our main idea, and when I talked to Stan, our main idea or my main idea was to get back to the way I used to putt, like ten, 12 years ago when I was a good putter. So we got back a little bit into that kind of feeling, that kind of address, and the way that the strike or the stroke should be. It's pretty much just making sure that we cover the ball as we go through and it's kind of like in a way, to make it easier for you guys to understand, it's kind of trying to hit little draws with the putt; so that way, your roll, it's so much purer than any other way. Q. Would you walk me through hole No. 8 a little bit? You had a beautiful tee shot that came up short, and it looked like a pretty tough, difficult first putt. SERGIO GARCÃA: No, it wasn't tough; it was impossible, pretty much. I thought about it after I hit the putt but probably the only way I could have hit it close would have been if I would have chipped it with like a little hook in it, because the higher one, the farther lefty went, the more the ball was going to break, and I actually hit a good putt and hit it to about, I don't know, seven or eight feet right of the hole, hole-high. I hit a good tee shot, and I had a nice tee shot and unfortunately the wind kind of switched a little and we came up a little short and just straight at that pin, then I had that huge hump that I had to negotiate and unfortunately didn't hit my best putt with the second one. But, you know, I managed to make a nice birdie on the last, which made up for that. Q. It seems like the TOUR set up the golf course a little bit more fair today, a few more accessible pins; am I right about that or not? SERGIO GARCÃA: You're wrong about the first thing. (Laughter) I mean, it's always fair. It's just a matter of being tougher or easier. Q. That's what I meant. SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah. So I guess, you know, the weather conditions were good. The greens were a little bit more receptive this morning. There wasn't much wind for early part of the round. But, you know, the course this afternoon is still not going to be easy. It's firming up quickly. The greens are extremely quick. So you know you have to hit the ball well. You know you have to hit a lot of fairways. You have to hit a lot of quality shots into the greens. And then the good thing is, you know, when you're in that ten-foot range, as good as the greens are if you put a good stroke on it, you have a lot of chances of making them, which is always nice. Q. When you first started working with Stan a couple of months ago, was it awkward at first? Did it come right away or did you notice -- SERGIO GARCÃA: Actually, I mean, it came a little bit. It was very different from what I was doing, but it was so similar to what I have done that, you know, it came quickly. And that's why, I mean, the first time I saw him was at the Match Play on Tuesday, we putted for about two hours, and it felt so good, this that's why I went with both putters on Wednesday, because it felt so good, I wanted to putt with the short one. I was like, this thing really feels good. I want to do it out there on the course. Obviously, you know, we would love it to be that way, but it's not like (snapping fingers) like that. So it takes a little bit of work. I've been working hard at it with Stan, and both my caddies, Billy Foster and Glen Murray, and a little bit with my dad, too, just trying to get on that comfort level, on that comfort zone, and it seems to be getting better and better every week. It's good, too, at least now I have some rounds where I come out and say I actually shot what I should have shot and not come out and think, I should have been four- or five-shot better or three shots better or something like that, which is always not very nice. Q. Do you work with him just at tournament sites or do you speak with him by phone? SERGIO GARCÃA: If I feel like something is off, I'll call him, like I do with my dad when I feel like something is off in my swing. But no, pretty much we worked two or three events. We worked back in Orlando once, so, you know, trying to make things easier for both of us. I don't live in the U.S., either, so it's not easy for him to go back to Europe. The easiest thing for me to do is when I come here, maybe come a daily early and see him just before the tournament starts. Q. You mentioned that you had gone when you first started working with Stan you had two putters in the bag at The Match Play; can you talk about the one you have in the bag now? SERGIO GARCÃA: As I was telling you, just going back in time. You know, it's a putter that I used I think back in 2000 or something like that. So just trying to get those good sensations from the past when I was comfortable with my putting. You know, I really like the way I'm striking it, or stroking it. I'm pretty happy with everything that's going on. There are days that are better than others. The good things is that there are days that it's very good, so that's always something to look forward to. Q. It's a putter that you already had previously? SERGIO GARCÃA: It's a putter that I had in 2000. Q. It's been almost three years since you've won on the PGA TOUR. How much does that motivate you or from us taste you? SERGIO GARCÃA: It doesn't matter. Even if I would have won last week, I would still be as motivated trying to win this week, so that doesn't change. I don't think it changes for any of us. So at the end of the day, the only thing I can do is keep working on it, keep giving myself chances, and it's going to happen. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer; at least now I feel like I can do it and it just a matter of being able to do it. Q. People say it's strictly because of the putting that you haven't won -- SERGIO GARCÃA: That's not true. Q. What's your belief on that? SERGIO GARCÃA: It's a lot of things involved. Of course, if you don't putt well, it doesn't help. Obviously you hit a couple of bad shots here and there at the wrong time, and it costs you, too. You know, it's just a mix of things. So it's just toughen it up and just believe in yourself. Q. How pleased are you with the progress in your game thus far in the season right now, and how pleased are you with your finish for today? SERGIO GARCÃA: I'm very excited, very thrilled about how my game is coming along. I guess the long same, it's usually been in good shape, but I seem to be driving the ball better in the past probably three months than I've done in the past year or so, so that's nice. But more than anything, my short game -- the most important thing is not that it looks good; that it feels good, because at the end of the day, that's what you need is to feel it, and I'm starting to feel it, which is always very important. Q. What motivates you going forward this year from last year? Is it the actual result of a second place finish, or is it the 67-66 weekend since? SERGIO GARCÃA: Being here motivates me. Being here and having a chance of winning motivates me. You know, just teeing it up every week out there and trying to perform and trying to have a chance at winning the tournament, it motivates me, and seeing that I can do it and seeing results, it's always motivating. So you know, that's all you can do, just keep working hard and we all try to get better. You know, I finally am starting to see that I can get better, which is nice. Q. If it felt good in 2000 and it feels good now, your putter, what happened in between? Why did you leap away from it and your stroke? SERGIO GARCÃA: If I know that, then I wouldn't have done it. Q. I'm sure you'll go through your card in a minute, I would just be curious which birdie for you today meant more than maybe the others? SERGIO GARCÃA: I don't know, probably 9. Probably my last birdie, because I just came from a 3-putt on 8. So, you know, I was keeping a clean sheet there with no bogeys, and it was nice to get back to that 6-under score. But I guess they are all nice. I hit a very nice birdie on 13 and hit it close with a 7-iron there -- on the 13th with the pin tucked left. I made a long putt on 14 which was playing tough. I hit a really good shot on 16 with a 5-wood from the rough and almost made eagle. So they are all good. They are all solid birdies. Q. How do you play 9? SERGIO GARCÃA: I hit 3-wood off the tee. The wind was down off the right, so I couldn't hit driver, but it would have been on the narrow part of the fairway. I knew with two good 3-woods, I could get to the green. I hit a good, solid 3-wood down the left, and then I had like 297 or 298 to the hole, a little bit downwind. I hit a nice 3-wood. I was thinking, well, I mean, if you hit on the green, it's a bonus. If you hit it in the left bunker, it's a pretty simple shot to that pin position there on the right where it funnels a little bit. So I hit it good and I hit it straight over the trees, drawing a little bit, and it was going towards that left bunker, but it tipped that last tree and it actually went right and went in the pot bunker on the right, the second pot bunker, which was also a good spot. I hit a good bunker shot from there to about five feet and just brushed it in. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Let's just start with 11 real quick, you started on the back side with a birdie. SERGIO GARCÃA: 11 I hit a very good drive. It's playing a little bit into the breeze early in the morning, so was ball wasn't going very far. I hit a good 3-wood just in the right bunker, very nice bunker shot to the back pin to about 2 1/2 feet or something like that. 13, 7-iron to about probably six feet at the most and made that. 14, hit a good drive again. I hit 6-iron from 201 yards, back pin, good back pin. So I hit it in the middle of the green, a little short left, probably about, I don't know, 35 feet, something like that and made that putt, so that was nice. And 16, I hit driver just in the right rough, 5-wood from 234 I think it was, a little bit into the breeze. I hit a very nice shot to about probably 17, 18 feet behind the hole and 2-putted. Then on 2, I hit it just right of the fairway again. I hit a 5-wood about 30 yards short of the green and then hit a nice chip from there, a nice little 50,55-yard shot to about five feet and made that. And then on 5, I hit a nice 3-wood off the tee. I hit a very nice -- probably one of the best shots I hit all day, very nice, just a hold-up 7-iron from 191, right-to-left wind, and hit it about six feet short of the hole, six, seven feet at the most and made that. Q. When you work with Stan, is it more of a feel-based situation, or will you actually get on a putting machine and view how you're striking the ball? SERGIO GARCÃA: No, it's more feeling, feeling like you do with your hands. So, no, we try not to get too technical. You know, we want it to be like I said before, like it was back in the past; as free as possible and as nice as possible. Q. It's been since 1987 that a European has won this tournament; does that enter your motivation here or is that anything you think about? SERGIO GARCÃA: No, that's like the British Open -- no, the major thing. It doesn't. I hope I can do it, but it doesn't mean anything. Q. This has always been known as a ball-striker's course, a second-shot course, and because that's one of your strengths do you look at this place at one where you could win? SERGIO GARCÃA: I'd love to. This is definitely one of the tournaments I would love to win, and this is our championship and everybody wants to get their hands on this trophy. I've been close two or three times, so I'm looking forward to give myself plenty more chances and hopefully come through. Q. You've been on TV quite a lot playing golf. Just wondering if you've looked at video from 2000 of your putting. SERGIO GARCÃA: No. Q. What kind of model is the Scotty Cameron that you use? SERGIO GARCÃA: It looks like the old PING Anser 2. PING Anser 2. Very similar to what Tiger uses and some of the guys. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Sergio. End of FastScripts |
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