Q. Talk about your day.
SERGIO GARCIA: Obviously happy to shoot under par. I thought the conditions were not too bad, but they were tricky sometimes. Our first six holes were quite tricky with the rain and the wind. Funny enough, that's probably where I played some of my best golf.
Yeah, obviously I would have loved to shoot a couple under, a couple more under, but I'll take 1-under, I guess.
Q. You spoke about your love for this championship in the past. You got a really nice reception there coming up 18. What does it mean to you and the crowd reception you get there?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, it's always super special walking down 18. Even today where it wasn't packed, still it's always very, very special. It's one of those things, one of those memories that always stay with you when you come here.
Q. I know you've played a lot in Spain in front of your home crowd. Put yourself in Rory's shoes, getting to play in front of his crowd. What do you make of that from his perspective?
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. I mean, it's just another tournament at the end of the day. Obviously for me last week, obviously I was playing at Valderrama in front of my home crowds, but you're still hitting the same kind of shots. That doesn't change.
It just depends on how you take it. You can take it as putting extra pressure on yourself, or you can take it as enjoying it because you're playing in front of your home crowd. I don't know how he's taking it, so I'm not going to speak about -- I'm not going to put words in his mouth.
Q. But it's all mindset is what you're saying?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, of course. I've always enjoyed it, but it can be both ways, I guess.
Q. When you get a couple practice days on the course, you feel like you get a sense of what Thursday will be like, but did anything of today surprise you in how the conditions were set up and whatnot?
SERGIO GARCIA: No. I mean, obviously when you play the practice rounds, the flags are not as close to the edges. It becomes a little bit trickier as the week goes on, and depending on the weather and the wind conditions. But nothing not expected.
Obviously a few tricky flags on some of the easier holes, close to the slopes and stuff like that, but pretty normal.
Q. You've played a lot of Opens, Sergio. How important is that sort of experience on days like today?
SERGIO GARCIA: You could say it's important, but at the end of the day, it's like I was saying earlier, it's just about believing in yourself and committing to what you're doing. I did that well a few times and not so well some other times.
Yeah, you're trying your hardest, and that's all you can ask.
Q. Can you talk about the three birdies in a row on 5, 6, 7 and the kind of momentum it brings?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, I hit a great drive on 5, got a terrible bounce off the slope and left myself a very difficult chip. From there, I felt like I hit a really, really good chip pretty much as close as I could probably get it. I hit it probably about 16 feet or something like that and rolled that putt in. So that was nice.
Then on the next, I hit a really, really nice shot with a 5-iron, like a nice low draw to probably about 12 feet and rolled that in down the hill. Then on 7, I missed my drive a little bit, but I hit it straight. Then I hit a really good second shot. I didn't hit the best of putts, but easy two-putt to birdie from about 20 feet.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports