LIV GOLF VIRGINIA

May 8, 2026

Sergio Garcia

Trump National DC

Fireballs GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Sergio, welcome. Well played today. 5-under 67. Currently 11-under for the tournament and sit at solo 2nd. Two days in, how are you feeling about your performance and where you are given the course and the different conditions from yesterday through today?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, thank you. I feel very proud of the way I played these first two days. Today it was tricky. I mean, obviously the scores speak for the quality of the league that we have, the quality of players we have, because I didn't see those many good scores.

I felt like, if I could shoot 3-under, it would be a really nice round and stuff. I managed to shoot 5, and I'm still far away from the lead.

Yeah, it was a good day. Obviously tricky with the wind and everything and the greens getting firmer, but very, very happy with the way I handled it.

Q. With still two rounds to go, what needs to happen over the weekend to catch Lucas, someone who's obviously had two really strong rounds?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, if he keeps playing like that, it's going to be very difficult. I just want to keep focusing on myself. I want to keep working on what I'm working, feeling better with my game, feeling better with my swing.

Obviously by doing that, that also helps me mentally a little bit. So trying to commit as much as I can to my shots, which is not easy sometimes. Yeah, like I said, very, very proud of the way I played the first two days and looking forward to keep doing more of the same on the weekend.

Q. You mentioned it's not easy to commit to your shots. Why is that? What do you mean it's not easy to?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, I said it's not easy to commit to some of the shots. Well, when it's blowing 20 miles an hour on a tough golf course, sometimes the pin start on the left side, the wind is off the left, and you're like, okay, I want to hit a little draw, but you don't want to do it because if you short-side yourself on the left side, then you chip in from the short-side and downwind.

It's just the way the game is. It's just like that. You try to commit to as many shots as you can, but unfortunately, it's pretty much impossible to commit to all of them.

I felt like I did a very good job for the conditions that we were playing. Obviously I would have loved to have hit a couple of shots here and there better, but like I said, it wasn't easy out there.

Q. What do you feel like you learned today that you'll take into the weekend to help you?

SERGIO GARCIA: I was just very patient. I felt like I was playing pretty well. There were some really tough holes early on. 3, 4 were very, very difficult. Even some of the holes downwind, it was difficult to hit it close to the hole.

I felt like I kept my patience nicely. Obviously I made a couple of nice par putts when I needed to, like on 10, and kind of kept me under par, after bogeying 9. Then I got going on the way in. That was nice to see. I've just got to keep doing more of that.

Q. Early in the year it seemed like you were kind of trying to find the right mix of equipment. Do you feel like you're kind of in a good place in your bag where you're feeling comfortable with all the clubs you have in there?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yes, but more than anything, I'm comfortable with my swing, or I'm getting more comfortable with my swing. At the end of the day, if you can have the best, perfect equipment in the world, but if you're not feeling it, it becomes a little tricky.

Obviously after the Masters and in Mexico already, I did little tweaks here and there with my setup and the way I was in front of the ball. It definitely -- I started feeling a little bit more comfortable. I felt a little smoother. Obviously I still need to keep improving on that, but it's nice to see some good golf and hitting the kind of shots that I want to hit. So I'm proud of that.

Q. You're second so far off the tee this week, strokes gained off the tee. Do you feel that you're kind of in a flow with the driver that you haven't really been all year?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, like I was saying earlier, obviously I'm very happy with the driver that I found last week. I've always said it, I feel like when I drive the ball well, my game kind of gets in the right frame of mind and I'm driving the ball very nicely. That obviously helps the rest of my game. So it gives me confidence everywhere else.

So that's nice. I've also, I've hit some good chips. I've made a few nice putts here and there. So everything helps.

Q. One of the questions I wanted to ask you was, as a leader now and the captain of the Fireballs, you've got a lot of young guys on your team. Do you feel like that's helped you project the image of leadership and kind of been a mentor to some of the guys?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yes, without a doubt. I decided when I came to LIV first, I said that that was going to be one of the things that I look forward to the most to be able to able to mentor the three young Spanish players at the moment, like Seve and José María Olazábal did for me when I came out on Tour.

I feel like that's it too. It's not just playing well and doing well for yourself. You've got to try to help the kids coming up and obviously younger kids that we're helping all over the world to pick up a club and get into the game. That's the main goal. I'm obviously very happy to be able to have that opportunity.

Q. They mentioned on the broadcast that you might be teeing the ball up a little higher. Is that correct?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, that's not correct. Hold on, let me rephrase. It's correct since 2020. It's not correct from this year. In 2020 through COVID, I started teeing off the ball higher when we had those two months off, and that's when I gained a lot of distance.

I think like they came out with a stat where Bryson and I, before COVID and after COVID, were the two players that gained the most distance off the tee. It's because I kind of changed the way I hit the ball. I used to hit the ball down, tee it low, and growing up with turbaladas and professional golf holes, you had to hit down on it too -- (singing) hit down on it -- to be able to keep the ball down into the wind because the ball spun so much.

Now with the new equipment, the ball flies much better on the wind so you can actually tee it up and hit it in the air or with less spin, and it travels through it. But not true from this year.

Q. One last question. This course is 7,600 yards, but based on the leaderboard, it's obviously not a bomber's course. How would you describe it and why the shot makers are populating the top of the leaderboard?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, like any golf course, you still have to hit the shots. I think that, if it was playing soft, obviously it would be playing extremely long for some of the guys, but because it's firming up nicely, the ball, you're getting some rolls. They moved some tees up. There's obviously a couple of holes today that were really, really difficult, like 3, 4. I mean, 4, it was a par-5. It was pretty much a par-5, not a par-4 today.

So I think they've done a good mix of moving some things around with the weather conditions that we had, and because of that, you see some long hitters like Dean and Herby up there on the leaderboard, but you also see guys that maybe don't hit it quite as far.

I feel like I'm hitting it a good distance this week, but G-Mac and stuff like that that maybe hits it a little bit shorter, they still have a chance.