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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP


July 18, 2007


Sergio Garcia


CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND

BRIAN CREIGHTON: Welcome to Sergio Garcia. Sergio, looking at your playing record this year, several Top-10's in there. Do you feel happy with your game coming into The Open?
SERGIO GARCIA: Not too bad. I had a decent week last week until the last couple of holes. But other than that it was a good positive week. Started with a victory on the cricket.
I could definitely feel better. I felt really good playing at THE PLAYERS. I struggled a little bit at the U.S. Open, but I feel like my game is coming around again. So it's just a matter of getting some good confidence, getting some good momentum on your side, just get going the right way. It looks like the most important club this week is probably going to be the umbrella. That's never good news.

Q. We just had Colin Montgomerie here a few minutes ago. You've obviously played with him on several Ryder Cup teams. Would it surprise you if he one day broke through and won a Major championship? Do you think he still has the talents and goods to do so?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, definitely. He's a wonderful player. You don't win eight Orders of Merit like he did without some good games. So he definitely has a chance.
There's no doubt that he's getting older, so he's got to take his chances as they come now. He definitely should be able to win one. It would be nice to see him win one. I think he deserves it, and hopefully we'll see that happen.

Q. Your first experience here obviously wasn't very pleasant. Can you talk about what you thought about this place then and what you think about it now that you've seen it this week?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, in '99 it was a little bit out of hand. Also we had quite bad weather, quite difficult playing conditions, weather, so that didn't help the way the course was set up.
But this year it's a different course. The rain is not helping, that's for sure. I would love to see this course playing fast and firm like we played last year in Liverpool. But it doesn't look like it's going to be that way. If we don't get some wind coming, the scores are going to be very low. It's going to be easy to get to the fairways. We're going to be able to stop it quite easily on the greens. It's just a matter of what the weather does.

Q. Do you regard yourself these days as a good or bad weather player, Sergio? What is it about your game that helps you in those conditions?
SERGIO GARCIA: I've always considered myself a good wind player. I'm not the biggest fan of rain, but if you've got to get through it, you've got to get through it. But I'll say us Europeans might be a bit more used to that because we, growing up, we play more often in the rain and having the wind.
Usually in the U.S. you get more thunderstorms. So most of the times when it rains they have to stop play. But here in Europe, not all the time. Most of the times you can get through it unless it's really heavy rain. But I guess that's probably one of the advantages for us in bad weather.

Q. The rough is not as penal as it was in '99. How will your philosophy, club selection change off the tee? Do you feel like there might be a chance to take more risks? What is your thinking now when you get to the tees?
SERGIO GARCIA: Some holes there will be, but by the end of the day you have to realise that you still want to be hitting from the fairways as much as possible, because even though the rough is not too bad, you still lose a bit of control out of it. Once you start getting to that guessing game, you know, how much is the ball going to release and everything, it's tougher to get it going.
And to some pins you have to be on the fairway. If they tuck them behind the bunkers and things like that, you can't get to them from the rough. In some holes, though, you can probably change your strategy, and even if you hit it in the rough you'd rather go with a wedge rather than a 6- or 5-iron from the fairway.

Q. Do you have a sense of how many drivers you might hit this week?
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. That depends a lot on how you're feeling, how the weather is. If it gets quite windy, you still want to be hitting on the fairway or as close to the fairway as possible. I guess it depends a little bit on the weather.

Q. Are you using the belly putter again this week?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yes.

Q. What's that doing for your confidence?
SERGIO GARCIA: It felt good last week. I felt like I putted nicely. I made some nice putts. Sunday, although I didn't make many, I still made a couple here and there and hit a lot of good putts that I felt should have gone in. But unfortunately the greens last week weren't our best.
I'm looking forward to it. It feels pretty good. It feels comfortable, and I'm looking forward to it. I think it kind of gets a little bit tougher if the wind blows hard because you have to stand up a little bit taller. I'm looking forward to test it out and keep getting some confidence in it.

Q. You were very close last year contending up until midway through the last day. Did that experience teach you anything about how to go the extra seven or eight holes that's necessary to win it this year?
SERGIO GARCIA: No, mainly what happened last year was on Sunday the way the tournament was going, I had almost no chance of winning. I put in an excellent round on Saturday and I gave myself a chance. It's very difficult to go on a week of a Major and even more a British Open and try to shoot 65, 66 to get into a playoff. I took it as I have a chance of trying to do something good and hopefully win. If not, finish up there, and that's what I did.
What happened was I didn't get off to a good start. I missed a couple of short putts early on on 2 and 3 and kind of put myself a little bit behind the 8-ball. Then when you get in that situation things have to go your way. You get a couple of bad bounces here and there and you hit in a couple of bunkers and it becomes quite difficult. I'm just going to do the same thing, put myself in that position again and keep trying hard and of course do my best. That's all I can ask for myself, and hopefully it's good enough.

Q. Colin Montgomerie was in earlier and he spoke about trying to bring his Ryder Cup mentality here this week, by being aggressive and not leaving any putts short. Are you going to have that similar attitude?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, that's what we try. We try to be as aggressive as we can. At the same time you can't be -- we're in a Major championship; you can't be overly aggressive. You can't hit driver everywhere and you can't go for every single pin on every single hole because there's a lot of things that come into play. You've got to realise that.
More than anything, you've got to feel comfortable with what you're doing. So that's what we're trying to do, and hopefully the game plan will be good.

Q. A number of courses have one hole that stands out, like the 12th at Augusta or the 17th at Sawgrass, that is maybe on your mind early in the round. Does Carnoustie have one hole like that that you have more concern of?
SERGIO GARCIA: 17 and 18 come to mind. I think 17 and 18 are two very tough and great finishing holes. I think the 9th is a pretty tough hole, too. There's a lot of holes that kind of stand out. But probably 17 and 18 are the ones you look forward to hopefully making a couple, good solid pars and get out of it.

Q. What was your reaction to the news that Seve Ballesteros retired?
SERGIO GARCIA: Did he (smiling)?

Q. And how much of an influence was he on you as a young man?
SERGIO GARCIA: It's sad news, but at the end of the day he's got to be pleased with what he's done, what he's brought to the game, how he raised the level of the game and all the things he's achieved. So I think he's had a wonderful career, one that I wish I could have by the end of my days.
It would have been nice to see him keep playing at a high level, like he used to, for another 15 or 20 years, but it's the way it is. You've just got to move on.

Q. People are looking for and very much hoping for a European win. I wonder what you thought the chances of that were and just how much you'd like to be the one to do it?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I'd love to do it. We'll see. I guess we'll see as the week develops. It would be nice, but if it doesn't happen it's not the end of the world. We're all trying hard, I tell you that, not only the Europeans, but everybody else. We're all going to try our best and hopefully by the end of the week a European will be on top.

Q. In this cricket match you played, did you make any runs and did you take any wickets?
SERGIO GARCIA: I didn't bowl so I didn't take any wickets. What did we make, nine runs? But the Bulls were the good team this year.

Q. What can you harness from the Ryder Cup experience? Is there anything as Europeans or individuals?
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. It's different. The Ryder Cup is different. The atmosphere is different. You're playing as a team. You have your teammate right next to you all the time. And here you're playing as an individual. You try.
You try to kind of go out there and play the same way you do in a Ryder Cup, but it's not the same. The support from your teammates is not the same. They're trying to beat you, too. It is different. It is a different story. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is we're trying to play our best and give ourselves a good shot at the end of the week.

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