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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 27, 2011

Sergio Garcia

IRVING, TEXAS

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Sergio Garcia into the interview room. After a 4-under par 66. Sergio, 11 of 14 fairways, 14 of 18 greens. That's solid ball striking on a very windy day. Your comments on the round?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, you would be happy with those stats on a day with not much wind, so for us to do it today, when, I don't know, the wind must have been gusting, I don't know how much but it must have been gusting at least 25 or 30.
THE MODERATOR: 36.
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, so very pleased with that. Obviously drove the ball great, which I'm very happy about and just a little bit of a bad drive on the last, but we managed to make a great up and down for a good finishing.

Q. How much harder, if at all, was it today than yesterday?
SERGIO GARCIA: There was no comparison. Yesterday was obviously -- it wasn't easy because the course plays tough itself. There was a little bit of wind, a bit of a different wind, a bit of a northern wind, today was for of a southern wind. But the course dried up a lot, the back nine, the greens on the front nine were fairly receptive.
Then we got to 11 and from that hole onwards, the greens were a lot firmer and with this wind it was difficult to hit some of those greens and obviously to try to close was a big challenge. We managed to hit a good amount of good shots, made some great up and downs, and very pleased with the way we ended up.

Q. Sergio, you made a ton of clutch putts out there today. People want to talk about the state of your putting game, where it's at, what you're doing. Talk about your confidence today putting and kinda the state of your putting game right now.
SERGIO GARCIA: You know what? I think I've pretty much had enough of that. I know where I stand. I don't need any stat to tell me if I'm putting well or bad, I know if I'm putting well or bad. To me, I've always said it, to me it's not so much obviously making the putt is great, but it's the effort I put on it.
If the way I putt is with confidence, even if I miss them, I can still live with that. If I hit a good putt and I misread it or I get a gust of wind like happened to Dustin Johnson on 11, you can't control that.
That's the most important thing for me and that's where I've been able to do it more consistently this year since I went to the Claw Grip. Obviously there are days where I don't putt as well, I don't make as many putts and there are days where you don't trust your lines as much and when you obviously not trusting it as much, your stroke seems to be a little more tentative and then that obviously never helps. But I think it's much better. I feel much more comfortable, I feel like I know what I'm doing and like I said, I'm the one that needs to be happy with it. I don't need anybody else, it doesn't bother me at all.

Q. Sergio, can you talk about your bunker play, which astronomically exceptional today, 14, an amazing shot, and then talk about the chip-in on 15.
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I think probably driving the ball and bunker play is probably my strongest part of the game. I've always felt comfortable and for example on 18, I stood up into a bunker and I thought -- I had a nice lie, a little bit into the wind, it wasn't the easiest but it was a little bit into the wind and I thought this was right down my alley, put aggressive swing, a good amount of spin, and I actually thought I hit a better shot than that but then I made the putt.
The chip-in on 15 was a smidgen harder than I wanted to, I couldn't putt it because there were three sprinkler heads in the way, but I knew if I underhit it, it was going to get to the hole and it was great to see it go in.

Q. Sergio, after the finger issue that kept you from withdrawing from the qualifier could you have anticipated two rounds like you put together?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, yeah, why not? Even at the qualifier when my finger was hurting, I was playing well, it's not like I was 8 over through five, I was playing nicely. And without being able to swing the way I wanted. So I felt like I could, I felt like my game has been pretty consistent throughout the year. Obviously there are moments here and there where we can get better, and I think that's -- with time it's getting better, kind of getting used to be in that position. But overall, yeah. I don't see why not.

Q. When you won here, I realize it was a while back but when you won here it was with terrific ball striking. Do you feel at all like that this time?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, if you look at my wins, usually not much of them have been bad ball striking weeks, so we all know it's the strength of my game.
When I'm feeling good, even in windy conditions like today, I feel like I can control the ball flight and I can hit some good, solid shots. So, yeah, I think that hopefully we'll keep it going the same way. But it's going to be tough out there. It's going to be probably tomorrow and Sunday is going to be similar to today, weather conditions and there are going to be some tough moments there and I just need to make sure that I stay positive through them and, you know, just try to trust myself as much as I can.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about playing with Dustin? I never realized how fast he plays. Do you even get to breathe? It's amazing.
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, no, he does play fast. I don't think he's the fastest on TOUR.

Q. Really?
SERGIO GARCIA: No.

Q. Who do you think it faster?
SERGIO GARCIA: I actually played with him this year, Chris Riley is very fast, and there are a couple of guys out there that are quite fast, but it was good. He's a nice guy, K.J. is a wonderful man, too, so it was a very easy group, two great guys to play with, two very nice caddies to play with.
It's good to see Joey back, and even though it was tough it was very enjoyable.

Q. Just a question about when you won here before. A lot of guys think the course is harder now?
SERGIO GARCIA: Definitely.

Q. Talk about the differences between when you won here and now trying to win here again.
SERGIO GARCIA: A lot of things that are different. The course is much longer. The greens are more challenging than they used to be, there is a lot of good, solid pin positions out there that you can put. And it always blows here. But the course itself, it's a much better, challenging course. Obviously D.A. Weibring and the PGA TOUR did a good job on the TOUR. 18 is miles tougher than it used to be.

Q. You made some noise obviously when you were a teenager. What do you think about the 17 year old amateur that's here, only a few shots off your lead?
SERGIO GARCIA: Very good, great round 2, I think he shot a couple under today. Obviously playing in the morning, which wasn't as difficult, it wasn't easy, obviously. But it's great to see -- not only myself, we've always said it, we try our hardest to keep doing things for the game of golf but we need young guys to come up behind us, because they're going to be the future of the game and after that there is going to be other young guys coming out.
I think it's great to see an amateur player like him playing that well, and I think golf is in a great state, when you have Rory McIlroy, you have him this week, you have Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, there is a lot of good, solid young players so that's good to see.
THE MODERATOR: We appreciate your time, Sergio, play well this weekend.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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