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THE BARCLAYS

August 20, 2008

Sergio Garcia

PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY

Q. Your first time playing the course, what are your first impressions?
SERGIO GARCÃA: It's a very nice golf course. Obviously very typical to this area. A lot of big trees and movement on the greens.
The greens are pretty small for the majority. You know, a good target golf course. But I think it's going to be a good test. The weather is supposed to be good, so we'll see.

Q. You had a pretty good track record at Westchester and this is an area you've done well. Is this course reminiscent?
SERGIO GARCÃA: I think so. It's a nice course. I like most of the looks I got out there today. It's obviously not the same as Westchester but it's similar. It's got some similarities. Just a good, solid course and hoping I can have a good week and start the Playoffs the way I want to.

Q. Given your record, were you personally disappointed not to go back there?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, those things happen, and I'm sure we'll be back there soon. This is also a good course, so obviously I've done well there, and just got to move on.

Q. One year into this FedExCup Playoffs, what are your thoughts from last year to now?
SERGIO GARCÃA: I think it's great. I think it keeps everybody a little bit more into it. Obviously after the majors are gone, obviously there's a little bit of a downfall there. But now with these Playoffs and THE TOUR Championship, I think it's kicked it back a little bit. It's kicked it up and it's made it a little bit more interesting, not only for us, but also for the fans out there, which is important.

Q. What did you do on your week off?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Relaxed a little bit. Did a little bit of practicing.

Q. Stay in Florida?
SERGIO GARCÃA: No, I went back to Spain.

Q. I don't know if you already heard this, but the greens here, how are they playing today? Some slope from left-to-right. How is that going to affect approach shots into the week?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Obviously like I said before, the greens, most of them are quite small. So your approach shots have to be good, have to be accurate.
The good thing about it is if you manage to hit a lot of greens, you're going to have birdie opportunities, because you're always going to be in good range.
Obviously if the course keeps firming up with this good weather, it's going to be quite tricky. You're going to miss a lot of greens hitting good shots, and you've just got to realize and hopefully get up-and-down as many times as you can.

Q. What about that drivable par 4, did you go for it?
SERGIO GARCÃA: I did. It was early morning and the ball wasn't really going that far. It looks like a nice hole. Very, very little green, and you know, unless the weather changes dramatically and it goes straight into the wind or something like that, if I'm feeling good, I'll probably be hitting towards it most of the times.

Q. The par 4s and par 5s are very long, and Kenny Perry said he wasn't able to reach any of them. How does that affect your game coming into this week and how do you look to attack it?
SERGIO GARCÃA: If we can't reach them, and we are not the short hitters, imagine the rest of the people.
Obviously they are long, and this morning they were playing even longer. You know, as the week goes on, the course, if it stays dry, it changes quite a bit. So you will be able to reach maybe a couple of them, but they are going to be long shots in. They are going to be woods in and it's never easy to make fours when you're hitting woods into these small targets.
It's a good, solid course.

Q. Your playing today, were there any holes that stuck out?
SERGIO GARCÃA: It was okay. Obviously I liked 5, the short par 4. I thought it was a unique hole.
What I realized is there's some good holes on the back nine. There's obviously quite a bit more length on the back nine than there is on the front, and you have 18 which is quite tough and 12 -- I think 11, 12, they are good, solid holes. I think it should be a good week.

Q. You had a week off; what did your dad and your friends and everybody say about the way things played out at Oakland Hills for you?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, they said well played and you know, unfortunate. That's pretty much it. That's the way I look at it. I think pretty much everything was positive out of last week. I got myself in contention and I had a chance, and unfortunately I came up against a guy that couldn't miss on the back nine. So when that happens, there's not many things you can do.

Q. You were hitting the ball so well, especially probably the first 14, 15 holes, punch drivers, knock-down 5-irons, everything seem to be working. It looked like all 14 clubs. Best you played in a while that I can recall.
SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, definitely, even though it rained, it was still a tough golf course. Obviously it was playing much longer on Sunday than it played early in the week. But yeah, it was a good, solid week. I felt pretty good with pretty much every part of my game. You know, it's disappointing, but at the same time, it was a good experience. I'm getting close and I've just got to keep trying.

Q. Are you being patient --
SERGIO GARCÃA: No, it's fine. I'm 28, so I'm not that worried about it.

Q. Any similarities between this course and Westchester?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, I think Westchester is a little bit shorter than this course. Obviously the greens at Westchester probably have more movement into them, even more than here.
But you know, other than that, there's a lot of similar looks, trees, high trees, big trees, and a lot of doglegs. Like I said before, it's small targets with not very big greens and quite a bit of movement.

Q. Does the game get a little less stressful now that you show up in the morning knowing that putts are going where you want them to go and it looks like you've really simplified the process, before it looked like you were going through a checklist in your mind --
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, it happens, when things don't go the way you want it, you start trying to analyze everything and try to -- just to try to improve it.
But obviously, you know, we are working hard and we are getting better, and definitely when you start -- when you start hitting good putts and holing a few putts here and there, it definitely makes the game a little bit easier and a little bit fun to play.

Q. Looking ahead to next year, are you thinking about whether you can try to go to the FedExCup playoffs and The Road to Dubai, too?
SERGIO GARCÃA: No, The Road to Dubai, the tournament in Dubai, is like late November or something like that.

Q. I understand, but can you go after both of them and try to be No. 1 on both tours?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, I'm not going to change my schedule for anything. Obviously I would love to maybe play a couple more in Europe if I have the chance but I'm not going to change my schedule for that. I mean, I'm not going to be playing 35 events. It's not worth it for me. But I'll definitely try to play well the tournaments I play and give myself the best shot possible at it.

Q. Not to continue to measure what Steve said, but you've been hitting I think some of the best shots in a while and not able to knock down the putts. Padraig said after he won the PGA, it's more mental when it comes to the putts and knocking it down; are you trying to apply that type of mind-set?
SERGIO GARCÃA: I made a lot of putts at the PGA, so I'm happy where they stand. Obviously, you know, he played good and he putted extremely well, even though he said he didn't play good, that wasn't very nice of him. (Laughter) It's just a matter of I'll keep working at it.

Q. Non-golf specific, do you wear sunglasses when you play at all?
SERGIO GARCÃA: No, usually don't, no.

Q. I read that you might wear bole sometime?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Sometimes when I'm back at home practicing, but not during usually. It's getting used to it and I've never really worn glasses while I've played in tournaments. But I do wear them outside the golf course.

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