WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 21, 2003

Sergio Garcia

SCOTT CROCKETT: Sergio, very well played, 64, joint leader. A good start with the eagle at the second and you finished with a birdie at the last so you must be pleased with the whole day.

SERGIO GARCIA: I think it was a very positive day. I mean, my first 11 holes were really, really good golf, probably one of the best golf I've played for a while. It was an easy six under par through the first 11. Then unfortunately I missed my shot on 12 a little bit too far right and couldn't get up and down for 3, and then I left myself -- I felt like I hit some good shots coming in. Some of those holes were playing quite tough and I had a good couple opportunities and I made a couple good saves and then made a great birdie on the last.

SCOTT CROCKETT: We'll fill in the details. An eagle?

SERGIO GARCIA: I hit a good drive in the middle of the fairway, I hit a cut 3-iron just over the pin, the pin was back left, and I chipped it in from probably about 15 feet, 18 feet.

Then on 7, I hit a good 5-iron with a nice little draw to about 12 feet, and I holed that.

On 8, then I got on a good run. On 8, I hit perfect 3-wood to the fairway, and a really good lob wedge to about two feet.

Then on the next I hit a good drive to the middle of the fairway, hit a little sand wedge from 119 to two feet then.

10, I hit a good drive in the middle of the fairway, and I hit a little pitching wedge from 116 to seven inches. You know, those were nice.

SCOTT CROCKETT: You missed the green at 12.

SERGIO GARCIA: I tried to hit a cut 6-iron and I cut it a little too much and it went down the hill there and I couldn't get up and down.

Then on 18, I hit a very good 2-iron off the tee and a very nice 9-iron from 167 to probably about 16 feet and holed that.

Q. Do you think these very good scores are in part because there's a sense of relief after what happened -- what you all went through last week, the difficulty of last week?

SERGIO GARCIA: There's no doubt that we're standing over the tee and we see a lot more fairway than we saw last week, and we know if we hit in the rough we have a good chance of getting it to the green. So that always helps a little bit.

But the greens, other than 16 and 18, the greens were fairly receptive, so they weren't too firm so you could attack a little bit, but it wasn't easy, either, because it was a bit of wind out there and it was making it a little tough, but I think that's one of the main reasons.

Q. Why the caddie swap this week?

SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. We've talked about it for quite a while now, for probably over a year, with Retief. And Glenn, Greg, Retief and me, we have a good relationship, so we talked about it for a while. Just to, I don't know, have some fun and maybe -- sometimes it's good to switch off from your usual caddie for a week and get some new thoughts in. I think it freshens up the relationship.

We decided to go this week, can't miss the cut this week, so there's no problem.

Q. How did it work out today as far as advice and that sort of thing?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I guess it wasn't too bad. What do you think? No, it was great. He was good out there. Nothing wrong with Glenn. Glenn is a great caddie, but I think Greg is a wonderful caddie, too. We pulled some good clubs and some wrong ones, but just the usual.

Q. Last week aside, you've had a good run since probably June. Where do you trace kind of the turnaround to?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, last week mainly I felt like I played pretty solidly the first round and I don't know what happened on the second round. I lost it for a while. I just struggled for about seven or eight holes where I could not get the ball going right to left.

I made a bogey on 5 and a double on 6. That's what kept me from the weekend. I was pretty disappointed with that. I felt like the swing has been coming around nicely, and I really feel -- over the ball I feel like I can hit the shot I want to. That's always important. I've been working on my putting quite hard, too, and it seems like things are starting to slowly get better, so although I didn't hole a lot of putts today, I made a couple nice saves for par that really kept my round going.

Q. Have you switched putters?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, not since U.S. Open, the old faithful.

Q. Is that its name?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, it's the one I used to putt with a couple years ago.

Q. Why ever leave it?

SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know.

Q. Because it wasn't faithful for a while?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, it wasn't behaving too well. I guess it wasn't him. I don't know. That's the way we are.

Q. Did you watch the final round on Sunday and what were your thoughts?

SERGIO GARCIA: I did, yes. I thought it was great golf, great golf. I think that Shaun played really well down the stretch, made some good shots. I thought Timmy Clark played really well. He's a good friend of mine and he probably deserved a bit more than what he got actually, but I think that all three played really well. I was talking to Glenn because I was watching with my caddie Glenn, and we were getting more excited than those three guys were. We were jumping up and down in the room. They would make a putt and they'd go like, "thank you, thank you." Come on, guys.

Q. How did you react when Shaun hit that shot on 18?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, of course I was impressed with how good the shot was and right at the perfect moment. Then I was like, okay, it's over.

Q. What do you think about how Ben played today? I guess you practiced with him earlier in the week.

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I didn't see, but he shot 64 and he must have played well.

Q. Didn't you practice with him earlier in the week?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yes.

Q. Was he playing well then?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, he was playing okay, but practice rounds don't say a lot sometimes. You might get something going on the range and feel something that is good, but I'm sure he's playing well. I mean, there's no easy 64s out there on this course.

Q. Does it surprise you that he could shoot 64 with a wedding waiting for him at the end of the week?

SERGIO GARCIA: I'll tell you what. If he's doing well, Saturday night is going to be a big night (laughter). Because a wedding, what do you do? Do you get drunk or you don't? A lot of decisions are going to be made that night.

Q. Are you going to the wedding?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, I haven't been invited. I probably wouldn't anyway. I'll relax.

SCOTT CROCKETT: Sergio, thank you very much.

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