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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 10, 2008

Sergio Garcia

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN

KELLY ELBIN: Sergio Garcia, ladies and gentlemen, joining us at the 90th PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club, Sergio finished today with a 2-under par 68 for a four round total of 279, 1-under par to finish tied for second with Ben Curtis, two shots behind Padraig Harrington. Sergio, comments about your play today and the drama that unfolded out there with Padraig.
SERGIO GARCIA: You know, I played, I obviously played nicely. I shot 69-68 on a tough Sunday at a Major. So I'm pretty happy about that.
Unfortunately, I obviously came up a little bit short. But I guess that's the way things go sometimes. So the only thing I can do is go back home with my head up high and keep working on it.
KELLY ELBIN: Can you go through your birdies, the eagle at 2 and the bogeys, please.
SERGIO GARCIA: On 1 I hit a good drive and I had 81 yards. I hit lob wedge to about eight or nine feet. Made that.
Next hole, I hit a good drive, I hit 9-iron from 181 I think. No, 184 or something like that. Downwind. I hit it to about four feet.
Then on 6, I blocked it right with the driver, hit a good second shot from the right rough to about six feet and made that.
Then 16, I hit a decent tee shot with a 3-wood, and then hit 6-iron from 178 into the wind from the left came out of it just a touch and just hit in the bank there a little right and came back into the water. I hit a very good chip from the drop zone to about five feet and holed a nice putt for bogey there.
Then on 18, I hit a little right with the driver, hit a great second shot, from the rough there, just a little unfortunate that it didn't carry. Just went in the bunker. I hit it just a little short with a bunker shot. To about 10 or 12 feet there. Hit a good putt, just missed right.
KELLY ELBIN: Thank you. Open it up for questions, please.

Q. He obviously putted very well on the back nine to catch you, but you were three ahead of him going into the 10th hole, are you thinking at all you're going to get your first Major?
SERGIO GARCIA: Next question, please. Let's try to keep this as positive as we can, please.

Q. Is there any one particular shot you would like to have back again, one particular shot?
SERGIO GARCIA: Not really.

Q. Or is it more than one?
SERGIO GARCIA: No, I felt like -- I felt like I gave it my best. Obviously what I'm not going to do is get on the 16th hole and try to hit it 40 yards left of the green. I mean, that's not the way I play. I tried to put a good, solid swing to the middle of the green and hopefully it goes there. If it drifts a little bit, perfect; came out of it just a touch, and just went in the water.
But then I hit a great putt on 17. I don't know why it didn't break. It lipped out. And then 18's just a tough hole.
But no, I felt like I responded well and he was obviously very good on the back nine and things just happened his way.

Q. You hit a great shot into 17. What was the club there, and could you describe what the situation was like after you saw how good Padraig's shot was into 17 at that point.
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, obviously I saw that he hit a good 5-iron, I think.
So I knew I had to put a good swing there and try to hit it up there on that right tier. Obviously I hit a very nice shot and then he holed a putt. And like I said before, I feel like I hit a good putt, the green's like this (indicating) and I hit it left edge and it just didn't break and it lipped out on the left.
So really the only part I can say that I didn't hit it great was the putt on 15. Unfortunately I pulled it just a little bit. But other than that, I have no regrets of anything I did out there.

Q. Was your club a 5-iron, also?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah.

Q. When you win that first Major, do you think you'll look over this stretch of the last year and think this is the education you needed to complete the knowledge of what it takes to be a Major champion?
SERGIO GARCIA: You know, I said it before, there's guys that get a little bit fortunate; they get in contention, in a Major, and manage to get things going their way, either because they play well or because somebody else comes back. And unfortunately, it hasn't happened to me. I feel like I played well enough to win more than -- probably more than two Majors throughout my career.
Unfortunately, it hasn't happened. That doesn't mean that I'm not in the right track. So I'm looking forward to the challenges, and I just am going to keep giving it my best, and it's just a matter of time.

Q. I know you're kind of in the moment out there, but could you appreciate the circus that you guys were putting on for the fans and how much back and forth there was and knocking it inside him on the par three down the stretch, and how much tension you guys were making for everybody else. It was quite a duel.
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I hope they enjoyed it. It was fun. Like I said before, I felt like I gave it a good shot and it was good fun, and unfortunately it just came up a little short.
But it's the way it is sometimes. I'm sure that everybody enjoyed it, and that's also important, too.

Q. I think only four players played No. 18 bogey-free. Can you talk about No. 18 as a final hole?
SERGIO GARCIA: It's just -- I mean there's so many things to it. Obviously first of all, if you play it as firm it is, it's almost impossible to hit the fairway. Then a very, very difficult green to get to, which is narrow and with a lot of movement, big bunkers around it. Over the green is dead.
So it's just a very, very solid hole. If you mix that with playing it dead into the wind like we played it the last couple of days, it makes it even along, long, very long par-4 that to finish a Major Championship make it's that much more difficult.
But I love this course. I think it's a hard course, but it's one that you can learn a lot of things about your self and about your game and stuff. So it's really testing you at all times, and I think that's what a Major Championship course should do.

Q. Obviously --
SERGIO GARCIA: Hold on. By the way, on the 10th tee I wasn't leading by three. Make sure you get your facts right. Because I was tied with Ben Curtis. There you go.

Q. Obviously Ben Curtis was a part of the equation in the group behind you the whole day, but at any point, particularly down the stretch, did you ever get that feeling like at Carnoustie that it's you and Padraig going head to head in the playoff?
SERGIO GARCIA: Not at all. Not at all. Ben was playing well. I could see that he was hanging in there nicely and he had a good start and he hung on tough.
So I was -- I wasn't only focused about Padraig. I thought that Ben had a realistic shot at it, too. And he was 2-, 3-, 4-under there the whole day, and unfortunately he made a couple bogeys coming in like I did, but it was a three-man race and Padraig came up on top.

Q. You hit another flagstick on a Sunday at a Major.
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah.

Q. Could you tell from the fairway how far that ended up from the hole? Did you see it there?
SERGIO GARCIA: No, no. Funny enough, I think that Peter Kostis told me it hit the pin and went in the hole and came out to about 10 feet. So I went and asked him because I saw the ball jump a little bit to the left and I thought, you know, I wanted to know if it was on the green or not and he told me what happened.
So I was happy to see that at least this time it stayed on the green. But unfortunately it didn't stay in the cup.
KELLY ELBIN: Sergio Garcia, tied for second at the 90th PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club thank you.

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