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THE EUROPEAN OPEN

July 6, 2008

Sergio Garcia

ASH, KENT, ENGLAND

Q. Even by your standards, was that a very special round of golf?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yes, mainly because it kind of reminded me a little bit of playing conditions at Muirfield probably on Saturday. It was really difficult. It was so tough. I mean, any day you're playing a par 4 that is 340 yards or 350 yards and you're hitting driver, 6-iron, you know it's tough.
But I managed to play pretty good under the conditions. I managed to putt really well, which was nice, and you know, now I know what Tiger feels 98 per cent of the times when he gets on the greens, so it's a great feeling.

Q. You narrowed the gap to about five shots; was there a time where you thought it might just be on?
SERGIO GARCIA: When I got it to 12, I thought I'm going to have probably a birdie opportunity on 13, you know, so I thought if I get it to 13, 14, there's some tough holes coming in, but obviously Ross is playing unbelievably. I can't say how in the playing conditions that we played, how consistently you can shoot under par on this course; it's not that easy.
You know, obviously he deserves it.

Q. Lots of lovely Ryder Cup points, pleased about that?
SERGIO GARCIA: I love that. That's the best thing coming out of this week. Obviously I came here trying to win, and I'm going to be short of that, but my second goal was to get as many Ryder Cup points as possible, and my round today helped a lot.

Q. 11 days until The Open Championship; how optimistic are you feeling about that now?
SERGIO GARCIA: I'm looking forward to it. I think there's still things that I need to keep improving on. You know, I need to keep working on my game and make sure that I don't get stuck there, and there's some good positive things coming out of this week and hopefully we can keep it going in the Open.

Q. Did you ask for the tennis score while you were on the course?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yes, I did. Carlos gave it to me, he only gave me the first set that he won 6-4 and I just heard that he won the second set.

Q. How highly would you rank that round? Would you rank it among the Top-10 or Top-20 round you've played?
SERGIO GARCIA: It was definitely the best putting round I've ever had. I guess if you look at the conditions, definitely in the top 5 conditions-wise. Obviously I hit some shots that I would like to hit better. But you know, it's tough when you're playing in these kind of conditions with the rain and the wind and everything, so overall, very happy with it.

Q. Encouraging heading into The Open?
SERGIO GARCIA: Not only because The Open is coming. The good thing is I'm starting to see that it's happening more consistently; maybe not as it happened today, which I don't expect to putt like this every single round. I mean, I would love to; it would be an easy game.
But you know, at least to be able to see some of these rounds happening, it's great. You know, it gives you confidence, and it shows you that, you know, all the work that you're doing is going in the right direction.

Q. Normal week, your performance, you would expect to win this tournament playing like that, wouldn't you?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I thought today, I mean, when I saw the conditions, I thought, if I manage to shoot 4-under, which I thought was an unbelievable round, get it to 11, you don't know what might happen. I thought maybe it had a chance.
But if you just play so well all week, I mean, everything about it, played well, putted well, and you know, when you get a player that gets on that kind of zone, it doesn't matter what you do. I was trying to put some pressure on him, making a lot of birdies out there today, which wasn't easy, and still, he wasn't backing up. So I couldn't do anything more.

Q. Is the big change in your putting a technical thing or mental approach?
SERGIO GARCIA: A little bit of both. I think now, I feel like I hit good putts, which helps me get to the ball with more confidence. Even though -- I said it on the first day; you know, on the first day, I really didn't make a putt, but I felt like I hit a lot of good putts. Unfortunately just you have some days where pretty much all of them want to go in, and you have some days where when they seem to lip out or things like that.
Hopefully it's a matter of getting more of these days than the others, but it's good.

Q. Six months ago you must have been freaking out about the putting and how and when it was going to turn around.
SERGIO GARCIA: That's why we went with Stan Utley and tried to work on it because we were trying to find a solution. You know, the only thing that you can do is believe in what you do and work hard and even have some better days than others. But you know, the most positive thing is that you believe in what you're working on.

Q. With a performance like this, do you wish The Open Championship was coming tomorrow?
SERGIO GARCIA: No, because I'm knackered. This was a tough week. I played three days with a lot of wind, and it's never easy. It's never easy to play in these kind of conditions.

Q. Would you say after that, Sergio, that you're going into this open with better shape than your game than last year?
SERGIO GARCIA: Still a week to go, so we'll see when I get there.

Q. Great preparation presumably playing in three days of wind for The Open, isn't it?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, obviously these are the kind of conditions that you're going to find there. So like I said the other day, like I said on Wednesday. I went to Ireland to Old Head, and it was like this, but even windier. So it was almost too windy.
So it kind of helps but you don't want to overdo it in these kind of conditions, because you can lose a little bit of your rhythm. It's difficult. But it's good to play a couple of days like this.

Q. Did you play any links courses in Ireland?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, Old Head.

Q. It's not a links course; it's a cliff top.
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, it's more of a links course than this one.

Q. Oh, yeah, for sure, no doubt about that, but not as much a links course at Royal County Down.
SERGIO GARCIA: No, of course not. It's not a true links course, but you do get feel.

Q. And smell of the sea.
SERGIO GARCIA: No, no, don't be smart now. You have some shots that are exactly like you would hit on a links course so, that's pretty much it.

Q. Going back during the week?
SERGIO GARCIA: No.

Q. Flying home tonight?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah.

Q. And come back Sunday or Saturday?
SERGIO GARCIA: I'll come back tomorrow. (Laughter).

End of FastScripts

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