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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 6, 2012Sergio GarciaAUGUSTA, GEORGIA GEORGE DAVIS: Pleased to introduce Sergio GarcÃÂa after two Top‑10 finishes at the 2011 U.S. Open and British Open, he fired a second‑round fine 68 today, and is currently at 4‑under par for the Tournament. Questions, please. Q. How did you feel today on the golf course? SERGIO GARCIA: Well, how did I feel physically or‑‑ Q. Physically and mentally, both. SERGIO GARCIA: I felt pretty good. I guess the finger is still a little bit sore. Kind of bleeds every time, every day I play, but it kind of feels a little bit better every day. I felt cold this morning, that's for sure. It was very cold this morning. Quite breezy. So it was tough conditions. But fortunately around, you know, 11:00 or 12:00 the sun kind of came out and it definitely made a difference. It felt much warmer. Probably the wind kind of slowed down a little bit from this morning. But you know, I think overall, under the conditions, yesterday and today, I played pretty nicely. Q. How do you feel about Augusta National, and have your feelings about this place changed over the years? SERGIO GARCIA: No, I mean, I think it's just an amazing place. Obviously it would be nice to play with good weather and play the course the way it's supposed to play, firm, kind of firm greens and things like that. Unfortunately it feels like since they made all the changes just after 1999, we have not been able to really play that way. I don't know why. It's just unfortunate. But you know, it's just one of those places that you always are looking forward to coming back and hopefully play good golf. You know, I'm just delighted to be in a pretty good position at the moment. Q. Just given what you said before about the course and what you said there, do you feel under less pressure coming to this major maybe than the others where you've been very close at The Open Championship, for example? Do you feel differently coming here, maybe more relaxed? SERGIO GARCIA: No, not at all. It's still a very difficult golf course. You know, every single shot out there is testing. Like I was talking the other day, the Masters before, I think this course before all the changes, it was mainly about the approach shots to the greens and everything around the greens and on the greens. Now, you have to drive the ball. If you don't drive the ball here, you are out of position. The fairways have gotten very narrow. There's a lot of trees around that didn't used to be there. And it just becomes very, very difficult. So you know, it tests every single part of your game. But it's unfortunate that the weather just hasn't been great, because the course is a little soft and we are getting a good amount of mud balls. It becomes so difficult to guess what the ball is going to do, because once you have a bad ball, it's a guessing game. It doesn't matter if it's going to move that much left or not. Q. Do you feel of the majors, this would be the least likely that you would have a chance of winning? Would you say that? SERGIO GARCIA: It's the one that I have done the worst, so probably. (Laughter). I don't know. Q. On the finger, is it right middle finger? SERGIO GARCIA: This one (indicating). (Laughter). Q. Thank you. Walked right into that. Does it cause you any pain what you're playing? SERGIO GARCIA: It's obviously a little uncomfortable. I think early on the day, it's worse. Then as the round goes on, I think that as the round goes on, it probably opens up a little bit and it loses a little bit of that‑‑ I don't know how you say it, like inflammation, I might say. But this morning in the cold, I could feel a little bit around the chipping green and early in the round. It's just‑‑ I had it last year on a different finger at the qualifying for the British Open when I had to pull out. I guess the good thing about this one is it's more in the middle one, so I don't need‑‑ I don't need to use it as much more grip pressure. It's just a little bit uncomfortable, but the good thing, it's playable, which is good. Q. It's in the fingernail? SERGIO GARCIA: It's in the fingernail, yeah. Q. Last year on Saturday, you climbed into second or third place and you were playing with Cabrera and you had a tough back nine, and it looked like walking up 18 or somewhere, he kind of put his arm around you and was saying something to you, kind of a pep talk. Can you sort of share what happened there and what that was about? SERGIO GARCIA: Well, he told me in Spanish. You want me to tell you in Spanish or‑‑ (laughter). Q. If you can translate, that would be great. SERGIO GARCIA: No, he ‑‑ I mean, Cabrera and I, we get along nicely. He just kind of put his arm around me and said, you know, just keep going, don't worry about it, these things happen. If you keep going the way you're going, you'll be fine. You'll manage to get through one day. So it was just a nice talk. Obviously at the time it was nice to hear because it wasn't a great moment for me in that round. But you know, hopefully it won't happen this year. Q. But getting in that position last year, was that a big deal for you; because it had been a few years since you were in that position around here. SERGIO GARCIA: Was it a big deal? I guess pressure‑wise it probably was. Unfortunately it wasn't a big deal for me at the end because on Sunday, I wasn't there. So you know, I guess you can compare it to what happened to Rory on Sunday, very similar to what happened to me. He made a bad swing on 10, I made it on 9, and then from then on, everything seemed to snowball. You know, that's a Major Championship. It asks for everything you have, and if you are a little bit off, and you lose a little bit of confidence, it can cost you. Q. 18 has tripped up a few of the leaders today. Is there anything specific about the hole today that is making it particularly difficult? SERGIO GARCIA: It's playing very long. I hit a very good drive to the front pin, which I've hit wedges and sand wedges into that and I hit a 5‑iron. And I'm not a short hitter; I mean, David Toms hit a good tee shot and he hit a rescue and didn't get to the green. It's just playing long, and like I said before, that fairway, it's quite muddy. It's difficult to get a clean ball on your second shot. It just brings a lot of doubt in your head. So you know, that would have been nice to finish with a par. But unfortunately it didn't happen. Q. Did you have a mud ball on that? SERGIO GARCIA: I had a little bit of a mud ball. It was a bad swing at the end, and it might have made me doubt a little bit, because it was on the right side and I was like, just cut into it a little bit. And I thought, but don't overdo it in case the mud ball doesn't‑‑ and that's what you can't do. You've got to trust it, and if a mud ball doesn't do what it's supposed to do, then too bad. I guess I would rather be‑‑ I thought I would rather be on the left side than on the right, until my chip stopped on the edge. Q. In a sport that has so much rub of the green, mud balls, breaks, how important is it to have the right temperament for golf and what is the right temperament, from the way you look at it? SERGIO GARCIA: I'll tell you when I find it. (Laughter). I think that's the million dollar question. The right temperament for golf, it doesn't exist. The Guy up top probably has it, but anybody else, I don't think so. Q. A decade ago, you were golf's next big thing. What have you learned about yourself since then that makes you ready to win this year? SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know if I'm ready to win. I'll see. We'll see. Depends how I play tomorrow, and then it depends how I go out there on Sunday and how I play. I wish I could tell you I'm ready to win, but I really don't know. So I'm just going to give it my best try, and you know, hopefully that will be good. Q. You did a good job getting the par 5s today. Could you maybe run through those birdies and maybe the save on 13? SERGIO GARCIA: 2, I hit a good 3‑wood and another good 3‑wood. It was into the wind‑‑ no. It was left‑to‑right wind. So it was tough to get there. But I left myself in a very good position, just short right. I hit a great chip to about a foot and a half. Then on 8, it was dead into the wind, so we couldn't really get to the green and I decided to hit 3‑wood off the tee, take the bunker out of play, and then another 3‑wood. Then hit a nice shot with a wedge from 120 yards, left it about probably 18 feet short and made a nice putt there. Then on 13, I hit a great 3‑wood off the tee. Had a mud ball. Hit 3‑iron hoping that it wasn't going to affect it, and it didn't let the ball turn left and it went in the hazard. I dropped and I hit a great chip that just kind of burned the edge on the right. Then 15, I hit a little bit of a necky driver on the fairway on the right side and I hit a very nice 3‑wood, nice high‑cut 3‑wood just in the right bunker. Got a good break there. It kind of hit the right side of the bunker and went into the left and hit a good bunker shot to three feet and made that. GEORGE DAVIS: Thank you very much and good luck this weekend. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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