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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 11, 2008Sergio GarciaPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA NELSON SILVERIO: Welcome, 2008, PLAYERS Champion Sergio GarcÃa to the media center. Congratulations, first off. Why don't you get us started just talking about the day. SERGIO GARCÃA: Awesome. Great day. Really hard. Very, very hard day. Probably even harder than the last round at the British Open last year. I felt so good all week long with all part of my game. I feel like I was really coming along, and you know, just thrilled to be able to be the PLAYERS Champ and I'm just going to try to carry it as well as I can. Q. Do you think this ends the criticism now, you talked about -- SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, that's up to you guys. I don't write in the newspapers. Q. Obviously, you had chances to win majors, you didn't, and then you come through and win this. And then Phil was kidding about, this is a major now. I just wonder your response to all that. SERGIO GARCÃA: We definitely feel like it. I think everybody feels, not only because of the field, but you know, the course, everything around it, it feels like a major. And it tests you like a major, so unfortunately it's not. Maybe sometime in the future, it might be. But you know, it definitely feels like it and I'm so thrilled to be here standing with the trophy. Q. When Paul went into the water on 17, I've got to think that's nothing to the pressure you feel hitting your next shot. SERGIO GARCÃA: No, not at all. I could still feel it, because I could do exactly the same thing. I was just praying that I didn't get any weird gusts or wind or anything like that, and I knew the shot I wanted to hit, and I thought, you know, I just hit it to that -- just on the left edge of the bunker, a good, solid sand wedge, and you know, hopefully it will be good enough. I was thinking, if I manage to make 3, I'm probably going to -- I should win this thing. So you know, that's what I did. Q. And secondly, the 18th hole, the putt there aside, you made a series of very big putts, some of them for par. Which one did you feel was any more important than the others, leading up to the 18th? SERGIO GARCÃA: Probably 17. If you take away 18, probably 17 was the biggest, because I knew after missing the one on 16, 14 was huge. 11, 12, got me back into it. But 17, I knew that you know, if I made 4, I still had a chance of getting into a playoff, and if I made 3, I could still win it. It was tough, and Paul still had 17 and 18 to play. He hit a great shot on 17, and I was just waiting to see. But I think 17 gave me the chance of at least having an option. Q. Are you talking about the 3-footer or the first one from the fringe from 60 feet? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, I didn't make that one. (Laughter). Yeah, it was the longest three feet I've ever seen. Q. You made about nine miles worth of putts that you just alluded to some of them; what does finally getting the ball in the hole do for your confidence and winning? Can you get back into that Top-5 echelon using this as a springboard? SERGIO GARCÃA: That's the goal is to keep getting better, and the only thing this tells me is to keep working hard and to believe in myself, and when I do believe in myself, I think there's not a lot of guys out there that can beat me. So it's just a matter of doing that, and knowing the capability that I have within myself and my game. So, you know, it's been a lot of work, but like everything when you work hard at it, and you work on the right things, they end up paying off. So I'm looking forward to keep going. I don't want to get stuck here. I want to have a good year and keep giving myself chances of winning more events and having a major if I can. Other than that, it's all great. Q. Can you go back to 18, you're 51 yards, you know you've probably got to get up-and-down for par there to have a chance, and you've been working with Stan for a couple of months -- I mean, this is why you started working with him, I'm sure. Talk about executing those shots to get in the playoff. SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, for a minute, I looked at my caddie and thought I made that third shot; it looked so good coming up the hill. Actually when I looked from the fairway, it looked like it was two feet behind the hole, and then I looked at the screen and I could see the ball just kept running and running, and I'm like, oh, stop, please. You know, I've seen that putt before. And it feels -- it's so weird. It feels like it wants to go right, and it doesn't; it almost goes the other way, like Paul's putt coming from the other side. It feels like you have the lake and everything, and you have the bunker and everything there, and it feels like it wants to go left, but it doesn't. So, the good thing about it was I knew that I was going to make that putt. 16, I didn't feel that good about it, but 18, I actually had a little grin when I was going into the ball, because I was thinking, I felt so calm, and I was like, you know, I don't know if this is going to be enough or not, but I'm going to make this putt, and I'm at least going to make Paul work a little bit. You know, I was so happy to see that putt go in. Q. It felt out there today that it was just like a survival test. How exhausting was it and how satisfying is it to just survive this day? SERGIO GARCÃA: It was very hard. You know, that's what we were talking before; it's not a major but it definitely feels like one. And today, I told you, it was one of the hardest days of golf -- and I was playing well, but it was so difficult. There were so many things you couldn't control. I mean, I hit so many good shots that I thought were perfect, and I wasn't even smelling the green. It's like, Jesus, what could you do? So, (sighing) it was hard, but I guess the harder they get, the sweeter they taste. Q. The putt on 5, it went in, you gave three fist-pumps and came back and kicked your bag. Was that the catalyst you think for the rest of your round as far as your putting goes, and were you trying to get yourself up a little bit? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, I was a little pissed off because it happened on 1; I hit a great second shot and the wind switched and went straight down and went over the green and made bogey. 5, I hit a another great shot with the 8-iron, and same thing, it was down off the right but mainly off the right and it switched straight back from behind me, and I almost flew the green. So it was a way of, you know, kind of getting myself pumped up and kind of releasing a little bit of pressure, and you know, it definitely got me going. So that was good. Q. If Friday wasn't your best driving round ever, what was? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, it's not the first time I hit 14 fairways. Q. You've done it six times. SERGIO GARCÃA: But under the conditions, I think it was definitely my best -- more than anything because it wasn't all the driving. It's that I was placing it where I wanted to. Most of the times, I was placing it on the right side of the fairway that I needed to be, and so you hit into even a small target in those winds. Unfortunately I didn't get much result out of it, but it was still very good. Q. Along those same lines, I think you also led the field in greens in regulation, as well as the driving accuracy. I just wonder if -- over time you've got a reputation for being a great ball-striker, obviously it's a strength; has it ever been frustrating to out-play people from tee-to-green as you do, and come away not always winning, seeing somebody else win when maybe you out-played them? SERGIO GARCÃA: Yes, I mean, I guess you put it that way, yeah, it is a little bit frustrating, but the game of golf is not only about hitting the ball. That's the beauty of it. You have to have every single part of your game in shape. You know, you can be a great ball-striker, but if you can't finish it off -- I mean, you're going to win some tournaments, like I did Byron Nelson where I won without really putting well, but it doesn't happen too often. You've just got to work on every single aspect of your game. Q. Stan keeps saying you've got the stroke; you've just got to trust it. On a 1 to 10, where are you on the learning scale as it relates to that stroke and where you want to be with it? SERGIO GARCÃA: I think I'm still at about 71/2, 8. So it feels good, and these were tough greens to putt on this week, as quick as they were, with the wind and everything. I mean, it was almost difficult to put the putter behind the ball and keep it still, because there was so little resistance in the grass. You know, it's definitely getting there, but there's still room for improvement, which is good. Q. And does this open the door for major championships for you now, do you feel? SERGIO GARCÃA: I think I still had an open door before this. It's just the end of the day, I've always said it; I have to believe in myself. I know what I can do, and what I can achieve, and it's just a matter of being able to go out there and do like I did this week. You know, believe in myself the whole week, and even when things were not going right, still believe that I could do it. You know, that was huge. Q. After you finished on 18, NBC showed a shot of you relaxing inside; I'm just wondering, with the knowledge that a playoff could be coming for you, why not practice putting, practice on the range at all? What was your thinking there? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, first of all, I didn't have to wait too much, because Paul was right behind me. And second of all, I was so hyped up, you know, I wanted to relax. I wanted to calm down. And you know, I just finished making a great putt on 18; why should I go to the putting green and start putting in this wind and get a negative thought in my head? (Laughter). I felt like I was right up there and I just need to calm down and keep myself up there, and to get ready for the playoff. Q. Do you feel that's part of what led to your really good shot on 17? SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I don't have an answer, but I hope it did. Q. Your third shot on 18 there, can you talk about the lie and the way that you executed the shot? SERGIO GARCÃA: It was a good lie. It was right on the first cut, a little bit downgrain, so it was good. But it was good to see that the wind was a little bit into, so I could get a little spin, land it on top and give myself a chance at making par. I just did what we worked on early this week, Stan and I, and my caddie, Glen, just release it and feel confident on it. I thought it came out absolutely perfect, just went six feet by or something like that, but it wasn't easy to hit it much closer. Q. Was there a moment today, whether it was a shot -- what was the turning point for you today? SERGIO GARCÃA: I don't know. I don't know if I could choose one. I think they were all important. You know, there were a lot of big moments. 9 probably was huge. 9 probably was one of the biggest moments. I took a great shot for my third and hit a shot in the back bunker and that was it, I had no shot downwind with the bunkers being firm and I didn't want to leave it back in the bunker and give myself a chance at making par, and when I holed that, I just thought, got to keep pushing, just got to keep pushing and hopefully give myself a chance on the back nine. Q. How special is this win for your home country as well as European representation? SERGIO GARCÃA: It's great. We were talking about it early in the week. It's been a long time since a European has won here. So I'm happy to be the one this time. I don't know, I hope -- I don't know. I guess I'll find out when I get back home how big it is. It's huge for me and I'm sure it will be huge for everybody back at home. Q. Paul said up here earlier that you're still a kid; now, he was referring to your age, but when it comes to your game, do you feel like you're still a kid? SERGIO GARCÃA: Usually, I would probably say that when I play like a kid, I usually do well. (Laughter.) I definitely don't consider myself a kid anymore. I feel like an old man, an old 28-year-old. (Laughter). Anyway, this is great, this is what we practice for. This is all the hard work we do, is, you know, for this. So I'm so thrilled that I had the chance of pulling through. Q. You've mentioned a couple of times how important it is to you to believe in yourself, over the last two and a half years, whatever it is, have there been periods where it's been very difficult to do that? SERGIO GARCÃA: Definitely. There's been moments -- there's been good moments, but there's been times when you doubt yourself. You know, you don't know if you're working on the right things or you try something or it feels good for a week and then it doesn't feel good again. And so you do doubt yourself a little bit, and you know, I'm just happy that I had the chance of getting Billy to caddie for me, and he really -- when we started, he really told me that he thought I should see Stan and that he thought it was going to help me, and he was right. I'm just really happy that he did that, and also, Glen did, too, my other caddie, did a good job, and also Carlos. Q. How much of a cut will he get after this? SERGIO GARCÃA: He gets his percentage. (Laughter). Q. What was the worst moment of self-doubt during the last three years? SERGIO GARCÃA: I don't know, there were -- I don't want to remember those. Q. Just to go back to the comment earlier, playing like a kid maybe helps you, can you just expand on that, maybe just playing with more freedom? SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, just loosen up and just play. Just don't worry about -- don't worry so much about the outcome and just play and believe in your ability to hit the ball and hit the shot, and sometimes, you know, you're going to get bad breaks and just hopefully you've just got to hope that they even up. Sometimes you get a little bit too frustrated with this game, and it's a beautiful game, but it's a really hard one. Q. What's the best part about winning this tournament at this time? SERGIO GARCÃA: Not having to listen to you guys. (Laughter). Q. Seriously. SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah. (Laughter.) I was dead serious. Q. Were you feeling that the comments were critical of you? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, I mean, there's always going to be -- I mean, you're going to criticize probably the best player in the history of golf, so how are you not going to criticize somebody else who is much smaller than that? I guess it's part of your job. The only thing I can do is try to keep getting better so I make your job harder to be able to criticize me. (Laughter). Q. The press, does it motivate you at all, that kind of stuff? SERGIO GARCÃA: Definitely. Q. Does it? SERGIO GARCÃA: Definitely. Gives me something to prove -- Q. Do you read -- SERGIO GARCÃA: No -- no, I never read about myself. Never, ever, I never have done it and I never will. You do hear things on TV, because I do love watching golf. I love watching all kind of sports. I woke up this morning, I was playing at 2:20 and I woke up at 7:30 to watch the Formula I, and I did the same thing yesterday, to watch qualifying, and I just love it. I love watching sports, and I love watching golf. You hear things, and the most important thing is to take them the right way, and then it gives you something to prove; not that you have to, but I guess, you know, it's something extra. Q. Did you measure the criticism from the press based on the questions you kept getting? Is that a way that you got a sense of what was going on? SERGIO GARCÃA: You heard yesterday, didn't you? Q. I guess over the last couple of years, was there any one part that was bugging you, the constant questions of putting, was it the major? SERGIO GARCÃA: I mean, I know when I'm putting badly and when I'm putting well. So, I mean, nobody else needs to tell me. Q. But we did, anyway, is what you're saying. SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, and it's fine. I understand you guys are trying to do your work and your job. You know, at the end of the day, it's like I said, I know where I stand and I know where I can get; so, you know, the most important thing is that I never lose that. Q. Today when you went into the playoff, did you feel pretty good about your chances, given your match-play record? SERGIO GARCÃA: I didn't think about it. You know, I'm glad I didn't, because my last playoff didn't come out the right way. You know, I was looking forward to it because, like I said before, I was on a high. You know, I came from making the putt on 18 and put myself into the playoff, which you know, when you go the other way, it doesn't mean that you're going to lose; but it's harder, because you feel like you know, you have the chance and you lost it. So it's always that little thing in your head. But you know, I felt like I was the outsider coming in, so you know, I felt like I was going in the right direction. Q. I was thinking more of your success in Ryder Cup than playoffs. SERGIO GARCÃA: My success in Ryder Cup is more team than singles, though. Q. Your final putt on 18 going into the playoff, can you talk about the putt and how you and your caddie read it? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, he didn't read it. (Laughter). Q. Describe your emotions after you saw the ball go in the hole. SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, like I said before, I've seen that putt before, and it looks like it wants to go right, but it doesn't. So, you know, it also helps that Jeff hit another putt from the other side and it looked like it tried to go right, his ball. Coming from the other side, I was just like, hit it straight, don't hit it left because it's not going to come back; and you have to make this putt. You have to make this putt to at least have a chance. You know, I just believed in myself, and I felt -- you never know what's going to happen, but I felt like I was going to make it. I felt comfortable and I felt like everything was calm, you know, every single part of my body. I felt like I was breathing nicely. You know, I got over the putt and I looked at it, one quick look, and it was nice to see it go in on the off-center-left, I guess. Then, you know, you never know what's going to happen after, but at least you know you have a chance now. So that was good, and the first thing I thought about, you know, I looked at my caddie, at Glen, and I thought, geez, all the hard work we put on, this is what it's worth, and it made me feel very full for everybody that is around me that matters to me. Q. Your thoughts specific to Torrey Pines and the U.S. Open. SERGIO GARCÃA: Still a long way to go. You know, I've got two events before that, and I want to concentrate on that. But I just want to keep getting better. Q. But that golf course, could you talk about that and your style, if it fits that? SERGIO GARCÃA: Oh, great golf course. Great golf course. I'm looking forward to seeing what the greens are going to be like. But I think it's just an amazing golf course. I think it's going to be really difficult to beat Tiger there, because, you know, he obviously loves that golf course there, kind of like the same way I feel here. But at least I want to at least give it a chance and see if I can challenge him a little bit, and you know, whatever happens, happens. We'll see what happens. Q. What are the two events you're playing in? SERGIO GARCÃA: Memorial and Memphis. Q. Did you actually plant a kiss on your putter? Did my eyes deceive me? SERGIO GARCÃA: I did, on 17, yeah. Q. Was that symbolic or just a reaction? SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, I guess it was a reaction. Everybody can take it the way they want. Q. How much of a sense of relief do you feel right now? SERGIO GARCÃA: Relief -- Goosen. I've really been working hard and it feels good. I don't know if it's relief, or what it is, but it definitely feels good. So I'm very happy with it. Q. Can you run through your card real quick? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, like I was saying before, hit a good tee shot on 1 with a 3-wood, and then I had 128 yards to the hole, hit lob-wedge and then the wind switched, of course, and hit over the back. Hit a great chip and a very good putt. I hit a good chip to about six feet and a very good putt that lipped-out. Then on 7, I hit a good 5-wood off the tee, very nice sand wedge from 170 -- sand wedge, that tells you how the course was playing -- hit it to about five or six feet and made that putt. Then on 8, I felt like I hit a great tee shot. Unfortunately we thought the wind was a little bit off the right and never pushed it and just went in the bunker and didn't get the best of lies. Blasted out of there, not a great bunker shot, and then left it short with my putt. Then 11, hit a great drive again, a very nice 5-wood just left of the pin and went in that little pot bunker, a good bunker shot from there just about eight feet behind the hole and made that. 12, I hit a good 3-iron off the tee. A little lob-wedge from 102 yards to about probably 16 feet or so and I made a great putt there. Then on the next, I hit a good shot, we were in between 7 and 8 and I felt like the wind was hurting and we tried to hit a little 7 and we flew in the middle of the green and went over the back, not an easy chip. I didn't hit my best chip, either. I just kind of quit on it a little bit. I hit a good putt. Unfortunately, miss-read it. Then 14, hit a good tee shot again. Hit a 6-iron just a little left. I don't know, I had a funny feeling on 14 -- and I didn't tell my caddie, but I told Glen afterwards. On the first round, I hit it in the same spot and the pin was on the right and I made a huge putt there. I looked at it, and I thought, Jesus, that looks so familiar. I just had a good feeling, and just rolled, I don't know, must have been at least 35 -- I don't know how long, 35, 40 feet, straight in the middle. And then I guess two good chances on 15 and 16. Didn't make those. And then two good pars to finish with. NELSON SILVERIO: 2008 PLAYERS Champion. End of FastScripts |
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