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THE BARCLAYSAugust 22, 2008Sergio GarciaPARAMUS, NEW JERSEY STEWART MOORE: Sergio Garcia, thank you for spending a few minutes with us here in the interview room at The Barclays, great round, 67 out there today. You've had a lot of success in this tournament, but first year here at this course. Thoughts about Ridgewood through two rounds. SERGIO GARCÃA: Wonderful course. You know, quite taken away a couple of holes, small targets, really small greens. If you're hitting good iron shots, you're always going to be kind of inside 20 feet, and you feel like you can make a lot of birdies. Obviously if you're struggling a little bit, you can miss a lot of greens. It's a wonderful golf course. You've got to drive the ball well and shape it both ways and make sure that your short game is in shape, because it's quite difficult around the greens. Q. How motivated do you get by the money and how much just by the competition in the whole Playoffs series? SERGIO GARCÃA: To tell you the truth, I never think about the money. Thank God I've got that sorted out. No, it's all about playing well and trying to win, trying to win events and trying to win the FedExCup or finish as high as possible on it. And I know that if I do that, the other stuff comes around. So you know, to me, it's more about making sure that I play well and I keep becoming a better player. Q. Yesterday you said that you thought it would take 10-under to win it; are you having to rethink that after today, or do you think it's going to get even tougher over the weekend? SERGIO GARCÃA: No. You've got to realize, I played in the morning, and the greens were a lot smoother this morning than they were yesterday afternoon. Even though they were quite firm this morning already, I can't imagine how they will get this afternoon, so no, I don't think it's going to be far from that. Obviously I would love to shoot 13- or 14-under if I can. But the course, like I said yesterday it's not going to get any easier towards the weekend, so got to go one step at a time. Q. What are you going to do in the scheduled off-week, week after -- two weeks, when there isn't anything on the schedule? SERGIO GARCÃA: Obviously I won't be playing a tournament that week. Just take some time off. I have a schedule to visit a friend for a couple of days, and I also have a corporate day that I have to do for TaylorMade and then I will probably come down to Miami and spend some time with some friends there and hopefully do a little bit of practice. Hopefully the tropical storm is gone. Q. Mickelson said it's nice to see you out here so that these events are credible -- SERGIO GARCÃA: Thank you. It's nice to see me out here? Q. Yes. SERGIO GARCÃA: Oohh, thanks, Phil! Q. Do you want to come out and compete out here on your own terms or is it a necessity? SERGIO GARCÃA: No, nothing is a necessitative. These tournaments are great and you want to be able to, if you can, make an extra effort and maybe try to play at least three of them. Obviously this year is a little bit easier because it's not all four in a row, but you know, for the top players, it's tough to -- talking on my behalf, I usually don't like to play more than three in a row. So four, it's always pushing it a little bit. I feel like, you know, after three tournaments, three big tournaments, I kind of let myself go a little bit and everything becomes a little bit too much of a routine. For me, it works great this year with that week off and then The Ryder Cup and then THE TOUR Championship, and hopefully I'll be fine for the rest of the year. Q. Why do you suppose that you feel so passionately about The Ryder Cup and that you seem to play as good as you can play, or it brings out the best in you? I'm sorry, you've been asked that a million times, but it's right around the corner. SERGIO GARCÃA: I've always said it; I love The Ryder Cup. I've been brought up in Spain where we play obviously a lot of soccer that is a lot about being a team and stuff, and you enjoy your partners' companies. I still play a little bit of soccer back at home, the team that I represent, and I enjoy it. I enjoy interacting with the guys and having fun. And Ryder Cup, it's all about that. It's about getting to know your partner, feeling good, making him feel good about being with you and playing out there. So you know, to me, it's obviously great. There will come a Ryder Cup where I won't play as well as I've been playing; hopefully not, but I love every minute of it. Q. You seem to free-wheel it a little bit more in terms of your personality there, it definitely comes out, you get the crowd involved and sometimes get under the skin of the American guys who I guess have accused you of going over the line once or twice over the years; do you care about that stuff or is that part of the -- SERGIO GARCÃA: No, I think -- Q. I'm not saying you're doing it on purpose. SERGIO GARCÃA: No. Q. But it definitely does annoy them at times. SERGIO GARCÃA: I think it's the moment. And at the same time, everybody gets excited and they get excited when they get on a run. So you know, I don't take it personally. I've always said it; I'm not trying to hurt anybody. I'm just enjoying the moment and you know, when it's their time to play, I try to stay quiet and make sure that the people stay quiet. So obviously when you get beat, you're always looking for things. Q. How have you found the galleries to be here? SERGIO GARCÃA: How do I found them? Yeah, just right outside the ropes, yeah. (Laughter). No, they have been great. This area, they have a lot of great courses. The people are very passionate about the city and about this whole area itself. We know how New Yorkers are. No, they have been good. There's always a couple of guys here and there that say a couple of funny things that you wish they won't say, but when there's so many people out there, you can't control everybody. Overall they have been very good. Q. Is it a lot different than it was five years ago around here, for you? SERGIO GARCÃA: Five years ago? What's the difference with five years ago? Q. Out in Long Island. SERGIO GARCÃA: No, it's fine. That's something that it happened that week, and obviously with all the boosts that the media gave the people about the "people's" Open and the "people's" Open and all that, obviously the crowd got a little bit ahead of themselves and they thought they were the center of attention. But like I said before, it's just a little group and they managed to be a little bit louder that week. Overall, I think we have to be very thankful for all of the support we have week-in, week-out. Q. Word is you're a pretty good soccer player. Are you a forward, midfield? SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, I usually play either midfield left side or maybe forward left side. I'm left-footed. Q. And how much do you get to play, and what do you think you've derived from that kind of athleticism? How does that translate? Does it translate to golf at all? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, I mean, how much do I get to play; I pretty much just get to practice with the team. When I'm back at home, for example, last week, I did practice a couple of times with them. So it's good fun. Obviously for me, it's something that I've loved my whole life, playing soccer, as a good Spaniard, I might say it's every kid's dream growing up in Spain. So I like to stay in touch with it. And it helps me -- like I've always said, it helps me disconnect from golf, which is what you have to do in some of those week-offs. So when I'm playing tennis or soccer or something like that, I mean, there's not a chance there's one thought about golf at that moment, and that's what I love about it. Q. Do you prefer to pass the ball or score? What do you like to do most? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, obviously we all like to score, but no, I probably prefer passing the ball. I try to score once in awhile when I have a good chance, but you know, a good pass always makes you feel good. Q. What's the name of the club? SERGIO GARCÃA: Borriol, just from where I am. Q. Is there one hole that's giving you and all of the other golfers particular trouble, and why do you think that is? SERGIO GARCÃA: No, I think the whole course itself, of course, if you drive the ball well, and like I said before, the greens are quite small, so if you drive the ball well and you're hitting your irons well, you know, there's some good holes out there. There's some tough holes. 12, it's always a good hole, and 11 this morning was playing quite long. But I think, you know, it's like every course. If you hit the ball well, you can manage to get around, and if not, you're struggling a little bit. I think it's just a good, solid course. Q. There's a report going around that said you're thinking about bringing both caddies to the Ryder Cup this year. Have you finalized that decision yet? SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, I talked to Nick, to the captain, probably about a couple months ago, and I said to him, you know, if I manage to make The Ryder Cup team, if you don't mind, I'd love to bring both caddies. Mainly because Glen, I've done very well with him and he's the one that's going to caddie for me at The Ryder Cup. But Billy is Ryder Cup itself. So he wouldn't be caddying for me, but you know, the atmosphere that he brings to the whole European Team and everything, it feels like if he's not there, there's going to be something missing. So he said that he didn't think that was going to be a problem, but you know, I'll only have Glen caddying for me. He'll be helping the caddies and making sure that everything is right and things like that. Q. Staying on The Ryder Cup theme, there's a good chance that Monty won't be playing on The Ryder Cup team for the first time in a really long time; how does that change the team room aspect, what would the Europeans lose not having him, and who could fill that void? SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, we haven't really talked about it much, because we don't know what's going to happen yet. Obviously Monty has done so much for The European Team in the Ryder Cups, and we'll see what happens. If he doesn't get to play, obviously it's something that we will miss. But at the same time, you want to have the best players out there. If he's not playing at his best, you know, you've got to move on and give the spot to somebody that is playing better. We'll see what happens. There's still a couple of weeks -- well, this one, and next week to go and it will all be revealed, I guess. Q. Just wondering, you're over here in the States as much as you are home these days; do you think if Europe lays another butt-whipping on the U.S., there's a chance that the event might lose some of its luster here? Because you know how American fans will quickly give up on somebody who is not winning. SERGIO GARCÃA: I don't know. It's coming back to Europe, so if we win, I'm sure there will be a lot of European people in the next Ryder Cup in Europe. I hope not. I really don't, because you know, there's so much history in that event, and it brings so much to the game of golf. It would be like saying, you know, if Tiger keeps winning a hundred million majors, will nobody come watch the majors anymore. I hope not. I don't think so. But we'll see. We'll see what happens. I'm sure it's going to be a good fight. The U.S. Team looks pretty good, and obviously missing Tiger is always a little bit of a down, but you know, I think that they have a good, solid team. Q. Staying on The Ryder Cup, you've formed a good partnership with Luke Donald down the years and he is not going to be there; have you given much thought to playing partners for Valhalla? SERGIO GARCÃA: Obviously, yeah, I have neither of my two partners from the last Ryder Cup. I mean, Olazábal will be there, but as a vice captain. Obviously Luke, with his wrist injury, we are going to miss him for a while. You know, I've played with Lee before, and we've done well. So that might be. I don't know what Nick is thinking. You know, I'm always happy to play with any of the newcomers and give them a little bit of -- how do you say, like cheer them up and give them some confidence. I think as an up and comer, or as a rookie on the team, it's always nice when you play with one that has played some Ryder Cups. We'll see, but I'm sure that Nick will do a great job and will mix everybody up nicely. STEWART MOORE: Sergio, thanks so much and good luck this weekend. End of FastScripts |
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