	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

April 1, 2009

Sergio Garcia

HUMBLE, TEXAS

MARK WILLIAMS: Sergio, welcome to the Media Center for the Shell Houston Open. We appreciate you coming in. Just talk a little bit about your experience on the golf course today, what you're thinking about it, and maybe a comment on your form at the present.
SERGIO GARCIA: Thank you, Mark. It's pretty good. I played nine holes yesterday, played the front-9 today. I played the whole 18. It's a nice golf course. They definitely done a magnificent job in preparing it, you know, as close as it can be from what we might see at Augusta.
So it's great. It's a good golf course. Got some really good holes out there, and, you know, when the wind blows a little bit like it was today, it's a very challenging golf course. Greens are very, very fast and in very, very good shape. So I'm looking forward to having a good week and get some good momentum going into next week.
MARK WILLIAMS: And the state of your game?
SERGIO GARCIA: I've not hit the ball badly. Feel like, you know, I probably -- this year I probably haven't scored the way I should have. Really Miami is the only tournament where I felt like I didn't hit the ball great. Other than that, it's been pretty good. Just a matter of getting a couple things going and, you know, get some good momentum on my side and.
MARK WILLIAMS: Okay for questions.

Q. Sergio, can you talk about your decision to come to Houston this year?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, the decision was because of some different points. One of them was that I heard that the golf course was really nice, that they tried to prepare it as close to what we might find at Augusta, which is always nice.
A couple other points that I looked at is that I wanted to change the way I got into the Masters. Unfortunately, I haven't done great there in the past probably four years. So I wanted to change that, and instead of taking one, two weeks off before that, I wanted to play the week before and see if I could get some momentum going into there.
Then another one is, you know, it fit good in the scheduling, and I just heard very good things about it. So it's just -- it was perfect timing for me, I guess.

Q. Did you hear from a number of players or anyone specifically?
SERGIO GARCIA: I asked some players, and they told me that yeah, it was a nice course; that it was usually in very, very good shape; and like we said, you know, prepared very much like Augusta would be.

Q. I'm sure this didn't fit into your scheduling plans, but you have a good record in Texas as well. Can you talk about that and why maybe that is?
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. I guess it's one of those things. I guess -- I've been lucky enough to play well here in this part of the country and, you know, I've done well. So I'm just hoping to keep that going and have another good solid week here and see if we can have a win here, it will be great.

Q. Sergio, obviously you can't duplicate elevation changes and some of the -- that you have at Augusta and some of the wind situations, but are there a reasonable number of shots that you can sort of work on here because of the way this course plays that kind help you carry over?
SERGIO GARCIA: Definitely. Definitely. I think the greens are obviously not as severe as some of the greens at Augusta, but there's definitely a lot of shots that you can see similar to that and -- around the greens, very, very similar. On the greens you can get some really, really quick putts like you're going to get at Augusta.
So, yeah, there's definitely a lot of similarities that you can find.

Q. Is there like a thing or two that you're kind of looking for at yourself this week in terms of getting ready for next week, that you're hoping to see that you --
SERGIO GARCIA: A win will be nice. That always gives you some extra confidence, so going into the first Major of the year it will be nice to do that. Mainly, just get some good confidence, get some good game going. You know, roll the putter well. Feel like you're get some positive momentum into next week.
So, I think it's a good solid tournament, too. We don't have to forget that 15 of the Top 20 are here. So, it's still a great field and, you know, looking forward to do well in it.

Q. What is your typical routine in preparing for Majors? Do you typically take the week off?
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. I guess it depends. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Usually towards the Masters I have been. Hopefully this works and I can play here many more years and, you know, helps me get in better a little bit at the Masters.
Usually if the year is open year, I play the week before. At the British I've done both. So there's nothing that's specific, I guess. It's just -- I guess it depends a little bit on the scheduling, see everything that -- make sure that it fits, and also, you know, the course that you might find the week before kind helps you a little bit get used to what you might find at that Major, it obviously helps.

Q. Is it more than anything also just kind of being in the thick of it, being under the gun, under the competitive gun, you know, so it's kind of an easier transition just from tournament golf to maybe Major Championship golf are two different things, but you're still kind of undergoing the same things?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, the feelings are still the same when you have a chance at winning. So that obviously helps, but, you know, it also depends a lot of scheduling, like I said. I'm sure that, you know, for example, Tiger usually doesn't like to play the week before, but before the PGA, he plays because it's a good tournament in front and generally where he's done well at Bridgestone.
It's just a combination of all those little things.
MARK WILLIAMS: Any more questions?

Q. You wouldn't have had to have done much differently the past couple years to have a couple Majors already in hand. You've been there, it's been such a fine line. I'm wondering, couple of those times you went head to head with Padraig, who has managed to win. Being in the heat of it with him, is there anything you've taken away from watching him that you can translate to you, anything you've learned?
SERGIO GARCIA: No, not really. I think we're all different. We're all different players, all different people. So, you have different personalities. You try what might -- what might work for one guy might not work for another. You've got to find your own way of being able to get things done.
I've been able to do it in many tournaments, thankfully for me, and some big tournaments like Players and a couple others. Unfortunately, not in the Majors yet, but, you know, that's what we work for, and that's pretty much the only thing you can do, keep believing in yourself and knowing that you can do it and then just go out there and do it.

Q. Do you think you've kind of maybe turned a corner, though, with the season you had last year?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, it was definitely a good, solid season. I don't know what you mean by turning the corner. I feel like I've been a good, solid player throughout my career. You guys always compare to one guy, and it's kind of unfair for the rest because he's extraordinary. He's a little bit different than the rest. So, you know, I feel like I've done well. I'm obviously not going to complain about it.
I also feel like I probably should have won many more times than I have, but then probably some of the ones I won, maybe I didn't deserve. At the end of the day, it all evens up.

Q. That's something, I mean, you definitely built off of last season?
SERGIO GARCIA: Definitely, yeah. It definitely helped. Not only last season. There's been some other good seasons that I had that obviously helped, too.

Q. With things bunched up in the world ranking, do you get into that at all when you look at Phil and Tiger and yourself and that kind competition for No. 1?
SERGIO GARCIA: Do I? In a way, but not too much. I know that at the end of the day, if I play well, I'm going to be up there, I'm going to have a chance. If I don't play up to my standards, then, you know, the other guys play well, then they're going to get a little bit farther away from me.
I think that the most important thing is to keep playing week in, week out, and keep getting some good tournaments in and, you know, whatever happens, whatever has to happen, it will happen.
So, you can't control -- you can only control what you do. You can't control what the rest does.
MARK WILLIAMS: Last question.

Q. Were you talking a little bit about Tiger and so much, Sergio, when we hear that he has the ability to will a putt into the hole. Is there such a thing?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, in a way, I think so. Yes. I think that a lot of the times, you know, putting is so mental. You know, a lot of the times, I get over a putt and I feel like I can't miss it and I make it. Even if it's 40 feet, you know, some putts you get over, and you just -- you can see the ball is going to go in.
Obviously he's able to do that, you know, when it matters the most down the stretch more than the rest of us, and that's why he's a little bit, you know, above us, I guess.
But, you know, the same way that that happens, sometimes you miss them. But I guess, you know, putting more than anything, it's about the way you approach it, the way you see it, and if you feel like you're going to make it, you know, it goes in. It doesn't matter how tough a putt it is.
MARK WILLIAMS: We appreciate you coming in, Sergio. Thank you. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297