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VOLVO MASTERS

October 29, 2008

Sergio Garcia

SAN ROQUE, SPAIN

MARÃA ACACIA: So, how did it go today, Sergio?
SERGIO GARCÃA: It was good. Good practice round, nice to see the course. The course is looking very nice. Obviously a little bit soft because of the rains, but it's looking in great shape. Different wind this year, and it's making it quite long coming in, some holes that we usually expect to play into the wind are playing downwind and the opposite, so it's a good mix.
You know, looking forward to it.
MARÃA ACACIA: What about the 13th and the 16th, the new changes?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, 13 is obviously, I think the tee is moved a little bit right, and a little bit back, but not much, so you're still pretty much hitting the same club off the tee. So it's not too big of a change. 16 is a little bit different, change the angle on the hole and made it a little longer.
And with this wind playing into the wind, it's quite long. We hit driver, 5-iron today into the front pin. That's definitely something that is going to come into play as the week goes on. So, you know, overall, it looks good, and it should be good fun.
MARÃA ACACIA: Many celebrations at home on Sunday, Monday?
SERGIO GARCÃA: A little bit, not a whole lot. We still have three weeks to go this year. There's no doubt that we had a couple nice dinners with friends. Yeah, it was a good victory, it was a good week overall, not only for me but for the tournament itself and for the people in CastellÃ³n, so we are all very happy with it.

Q. You spoke to Anthony Kim and Villegas and they had paid their 2000 pounds and they have joined the Tour now.
SERGIO GARCÃA: Beautiful. That's great.

Q. Give your take on that.
SERGIO GARCÃA: No, that's great. I think any time you can get players from the calibre of Camilo and Anthony into the Tour, it's great. You know, it's an asset, and it's good for golf. It's good for The European Tour, and it's nice to see those guys move around a little bit and not only play in the U.S.
You know, we'll welcome them with open arms and we hope they can enjoy it as much as we do.

Q. What do you think you said to them that made the difference?
SERGIO GARCÃA: You should play.

Q. They listened to you.
SERGIO GARCÃA: They asked me a couple things, and I told them, you know, how the Tour is -- everything seems to be a little bit more relaxed in Europe. Don't get me wrong, when we go out there, we are all trying our hardest and we are all trying to win. But outside of that, everything seems to be a bit more relaxed. You know, the interaction with the players, I think it's a little bit looser here. You get along and have dinners and all of those kind of things.
I think that's probably one of the things that they enjoyed, and obviously, The Race to Dubai is a big asset, too, to try and join the Tour and play a little bit around here.

Q. There are seven Spaniards in the field this year compared to three last year; does that mean Spanish golf is more than twice as strong as it was a year ago?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, it's been pretty good this year, there's no doubt about that. I think we've had a good amount of winners here on The European Tour. We've done pretty well overall.
So I know that the amount of players we have on Tour now, it's much greater than it was probably about five years ago. So it's obviously something that's working. We just have to keep going in the same direction and make sure that we get more young, good, Spanish golfers coming out and joining the Tour and showing the people how they can play.

Q. Do you consider yourself to be a young Spanish golfer?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, ten years ago. (Laughing).
Yes and no. I think I still consider myself young, but at the same time, the good thing is that I'm quite experienced. It's my 10th year on Tour, so it's a good mix. But definitely, obviously I'm not as young as I used to be.

Q. Is anybody else that you spoke to, in the way that you spoke to Anthony and Camilo, did you speak to any other players in addition to Anthony Kim and Camilo, and do you expect there to be anybody else of the people you spoke to who might be joining the Tour?
SERGIO GARCÃA: I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait and see. There was some talk about Phil maybe joining but I don't know.
I think we might see some guys that used to play the Tour and then went to the U.S. maybe trying to join.

Q. Ogilvy.
SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, maybe some of the Australians. But I guess it's just a matter of time until it all gets settled and we'll see what comes out of it.

Q. Obviously you dedicated your victory to Seve on Sunday; the latest medical reports are encouraging today. I just wonder how much of a preoccupation he is for everybody here this week.
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, like I said last week, he's in our thoughts and he's in our prayers. But once we get out on the course, we are focused in on what we are trying to achieve. There's no doubt that you think about him a little bit, but once you get on, you concentrate on what you have to do and then that's pretty much all you can do.

Q. And I know you've spoken about this, but it's the first time that we've had a chance to ask you, but can you just give us an idea of what he means to you?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, I mean, I think not only to me; to everybody, he's been amazing to the game of golf, not only Spain or Europe, I think worldwide he took the game to a different level. Not only playing, but charisma-wise, and it was awesome to watch.
Personally for me, I had the pleasure of meeting him and playing some golf with him. So it's always a little bit more fun to get to know someone, as big as he was. But you know, he's going through some tough times and we just hope that the only thing that we can do is hope that he recovers and he gets well soon.

Q. Getting back to the Americans joining The European Tour, one assumes they have very little interest in The European Tour as a tour; their interest has been thickened by this pot of gold in Dubai at the end of it. Do you think that the average European Tour player who might well lose his place in this Dubai idea when the Americans do arrive will welcome them?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, there's no doubt that obviously the more good players you get here, some guys are going to feel it. But it happens everywhere, so you can't have both. If you want the Tour to get better and to grow and get to the level that it deserves, there's no doubt that you need those big players.
Obviously if you're taking four or five spots, well, there's going to be four or five guys that are going to struggle, but it's the way of life. You can't please everybody unfortunately.

Q. Following on that question about the pot of gold, they have all got lots of money, anyhow, so they must be vaguely interested?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Well, I think it's not only that. I think the way, the idea that the tour has got, it's obviously very attractive to some of them, and they know -- like I said, I think I said it -- I don't know if I said it last week or some weeks before. You know, for example, some of the tournaments we play in the Middle East early in the year, you know, they are bigger tournaments than the ones they play in the U.S. The World Ranking points, they are better. They might not have as much money as they have in the tournaments in the U.S., but you get good players there, so World Ranking points increase and things like that.
So at the end of the day, that's what the big players do it for; where are the best players. You go wherever that may take you.

Q. What's the funniest question you've been asked by these people about the Europeans and their tour; where is Europe?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, where is Europe. (Laughter).
Obviously some of them think that Spain is in MÃ©xico. No, but seriously, I think nowadays, everything is quite worldwide, and they asked me about the golf courses and things like that. I think that The European Tour has done a great job I think in the past ten years, the quality of the golf courses have grown up a lot. They are much better than they used to be. I think they are going to be very impressed with what they see.

Q. It's been well documented that Tiger Woods uses visualization techniques for his success. Have you visualized this tournament in your hands?
SERGIO GARCÃA: I have before, yeah, and I've been close. Yeah, it's definitely what we come here for. There's no doubt that you visualize what you want to do, what you want to achieve every week. Unfortunately you don't achieve it every week, but I was fortunate last week; I played well. It was very nice to win on my home course in front of my crowds. It would be great to have a chance here, and hopefully win it. I've been close before, and I have a good feel about the course. But I guess time will tell us.

Q. The Race to Dubai is obviously the trigger that has caused the Volvo Masters and Valderrama to drop of the schedule. What's your thoughts on that time and what replaces the Volvo Masters in AndalucÃa next year with the Dubai World Championship?
SERGIO GARCÃA: Yeah, it's sad, there's no doubt we love coming here, at least most of us love coming to Valderrama, love playing here. It's a good, challenging course. They always treat us very nicely. And you know you're going to get tested on this golf course. So that's something that I think the good-quality players always look for in a golf course.
So to me, it has a little bit of an extra feel because I'm good friends with the PatiÃ±o family, and I come and practice here as often as I can. So you know, we are going to miss it, but I'm sure that they will look for something. I'm sure they will work their way into trying to find a decent event that they can get. There's no doubt that a course like Valderrama with it's history and the events it's had, that it has hosted, cannot host a small event. So it has to be something that's really worth it.
So, we'll see. I'm sure they will find something.

Q. Just wondering, you said that you have come close so many times; is there anything you've changed coming in this year?
SERGIO GARCÃA: No, hopefully the position. (Laughter).
No, you play the course the same way. I think the good thing is my attitude to the game now is probably better than it's ever been, so that probably has been helping me all year long, even through my losses, and you've always got to look at the positive and realize that at the end of the day you're trying your hardest, and if it doesn't want to go come out of the way you hope for, it's something that you have got to realize and deal with. So hopefully that will help me.

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