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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 9, 2015

Sergio Garcia

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

Q. An eventful back nine. You have to be happy.
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, I played nicely. I played nicely again. Obviously a couple bad swings 14 and 18. Second shots there. But other than that, I felt like I was pretty much in control. Not so much with my putter at some points I did and at some points I didn't. But I think the positive is some of the putts I made and tried to for get some of the ones I missed. And see if I can do more of the same tomorrow.

Q. I can't tell if you're excited or perplexed to be in the position you're in.
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, obviously I am excited. It's always exciting to be up there, but at the same time, obviously you look back at these first three days and I feel like I easily left on average three shots out there every round. So, you cannot think what could have been, but it is what it is. It's as simple as that. And I just got to deal with it and try to do the best with what I have and that's what I'm trying to do.

Q. Are you confident?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I'm very confident with my game, with my long game, even my chipping has been quite good for most of the year. Unfortunately, my putting has just been up-and-down. Some great rounds and then some round where I don't know, I can't even see the hole. So it's, I don't know, it's a funny, it's been a funny year. Hopefully, I can kind of turn it around on that aspect.

Q. Did you wake up this morning and knowing what grip you were going to go with?
SERGIO GARCIA: No, don't worry, I knew last, yesterday afternoon, yeah. This one, even when it doesn't feel good, it still feels better than the other one, when it doesn't feel good, so.

Q. How many putters did you bring with you?
SERGIO GARCIA: I had three.

Q. Now have you two?
SERGIO GARCIA: Now I have two and this is the one I used the first day, so it should be fine.

Q. What's wrong with the other one?
SERGIO GARCIA: The other one is in the house and one of them is in the garbage, so. (Laughter.)

Q. Why hasn't the one in the house been pulled off the bench yet?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, no, because I felt okay for the most part the first round. I did go to the within I used yesterday because the last round in San Francisco, I used it and it felt quite good. So I thought, you know, maybe I feel better than with the one I used the first day, which is a brand new one. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case. And I kind of got the benched one back on the field.

Q. What kind of challenge has been it mentally to hit the ball so beautifully and not get the results out there?
SERGIO GARCIA: It's not the first time it's happened to me, so. I guess on that aspect, I know what to expect. Unfortunately, I'm not the kind of guy that can say, you know, I won a lot of tournaments because of my putting, so I guess on that aspect I know what to expect, but it's still frustrating to see that.

Q. How much ground do you think you can makeup in a round?
SERGIO GARCIA: It depend. Obviously there's some -- like I said, this week it feels like probably on average three shots. I mean probably two or three the first day, at least probably five the second day, and probably a couple or three today. So somewhere around that. But, it doesn't matter. Nobody's going to give them to me. So, I just got to deal with it and try to do better.

Q. Did it change your perspective though when you made that putt on the last hole versus if you hadn't?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I definitely will be a little bit more disappointed if I didn't make it. But, you know, it is what it is, so just got to try to get better at it somehow.

Q. Some inexperienced players there atop the leaderboard, can you bank on your experience tomorrow? Will that help you?
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. I'm not a big believer in that. I think that it just comes down to whoever plays best. Everybody has the opportunity of winning a big tournament or your first tournament here and there and you don't have experience and sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. So, I don't think -- it's just a matter of being able to play well and get things going your way and sometimes you should 7-under, sometimes you shoot 1-under or sometimes you shoot 2-over, so it's as simple as that.

Q. What is the make of the putter you have then today?
SERGIO GARCIA: It's TaylorMade.

Q. What specific one?
SERGIO GARCIA: It's a prototype actually I just, Kia Ma, the guy from TaylorMade, made it for me last Saturday in Carlsbad.

Q. A lot of guys come up here and have sort of this resigned attitude or they feel like they left them out there, just like what you're saying, is it just the nature of this course that even guys who are playing well are kind of saying similar things.
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. I don't see the rounds, so I can't really speak for themselves. I know what I do or what I did and I can talk to you about my round. But I don't know exactly what the other guys did. Maybe they missed three 20 footers and for them that's not normal, you know. I'm missing 4-footers. I probably missed, I want to say I probably missed five putts inside four feet this week and that's not very good.

Q. Talk about on 14, which side did you think it was going to miss on before it went in the middle?
SERGIO GARCIA: On 16?

Q. 16. Sorry.
SERGIO GARCIA: I thought it was going to miss right. Yeah. It was nice to see it go in. (Laughter.)

Q. How did you putt the year you won?
SERGIO GARCIA: How did I putt?

Q. How was the putting that week, the year you won.
SERGIO GARCIA: My ball striking was very good. My putting was better than this week, but my ball striking for the conditions it was extremely good.

Q. Right now, if you won this thing you sound like you would actually be surprised.
SERGIO GARCIA: Surprised? Well, in a way I am a little surprised that I am where I am the way I feel, because I feel like I left a lot of shots out there, but at the same time I guess I've always said that this is one of my favorite courses and I feel like I can do well here, even without being full on with my putting, because it's a ball-striker's game, it's a ball-striker's golf course. So, if you can hit a lot of greens, the greens are small, so if you are hitting greens you usually have birdie chances. And I'm usually fairly good at that. So, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Q. Can you compare your mindset now to two years ago when you were in it right to the end? Is it similar?
SERGIO GARCIA: It depend. It depend, because the guys that are finishing at 10-under and then I feel like I have a solid chance. If they finish at 13, it's difficult, because you have to mix up a great round of yours with a not good one from them. So, you kind of don't depend on yourself anymore. So, it all depends on what they do.

Q. What are your expectations?
SERGIO GARCIA: My expectations tomorrow?

Q. Tomorrow.
SERGIO GARCIA: Sorry?

Q. Tomorrow.
SERGIO GARCIA: Try to play as well as I can. That's what I always try to do every single round. Sometimes I do better than others. And whatever that takes me. If I shoot 66 and somebody else shoots 67 and beats me by three, the only thing you can say is congrats.

Q. Surely there's been other weeks where your expectations have been higher with your all around game, does it help sometimes to make not be so certain about what you're going to bring tomorrow and just go play?
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. I'm not so sure about that. I think that you always like to feel as good as possible with every single aspect of your game. And it's difficult to say if that's a good or bad thing.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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