THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome captain of Fireballs GC, Sergio Garcia. Well played today, currently tied for the lead at 4-under par after a round of 67 here. Talk us through your round today.
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, obviously very pleased with it. Tricky day out there. Obviously it's a strong golf course with quite a bit firm greens and quite a bit of wind. It was very tricky to be able to hit the right numbers going into the greens, but I was able to do that for most of the day.
Very happy with the round overall.
Q. Pretty bunched-up leaderboard. What's your thoughts now heading into the weekend?
SERGIO GARCIA: My thoughts are the same; just keep playing, keep doing good things and be patient out there because it's not easy. You've got to realize that. If you're swinging nicely like I was today, there's chances to be taken there.
But you have to be patient because it's tricky.
Q. How close are you to the form that you showed early in the season?
SERGIO GARCIA: Obviously I've been working very hard on all parts of my game. It still feels like -- today I felt like I hit the ball pretty much as well as I hit the ball at the beginning of the year. It just feels like a couple little things here and there, a couple little breaks here and there would be nice once in a while. It feels like it's struggling to happen a little bit.
But I was able to roll a couple nice putts. I hit several shots very, very close, so obviously on the conditions that we had today, if you have five or six tap-ins for birdie, obviously that helps a lot, so I'm very pleased with that.
Q. You've kind of gone back and forth with the putter these last few tournaments; is that right? What's the mindset of why you're going back and forth?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, just trying to find something that I like, something that gives me a good feeling when I'm putting, something that I can line up nicely.
Obviously I haven't been at home in Austin for a while until last week, and I was able to be there, and I grabbed an old putter of mine that I've always liked. If the greens are fast, it's a putter that I can feel quite comfortable with it. If the greens are slow, then it's a little bit tougher because it doesn't hit the ball super hard.
I practiced with it last week and this week, and it's been feeling pretty good.
Q. I also wanted to ask you about Josele. Obviously he's played really well, had a really nice round today. What have you seen lately that he's been able to turn it around a little bit here? Just getting more comfortable?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yes. You turn pro, and it's not easy. You start from scratch. Everything you've done as an amateur doesn't matter anymore. You start from zero, and you get thrown into the wolves. With all of us, we've been out here for a long time, so it always takes a little bit of time to get comfortable and stuff like that, and I'm talking two or three tournaments.
Obviously I think the last round at Valderrama was big for him to be able to shoot 4-under on a tough course like Valderrama is, it kind of gave him a lot of confidence, then he went into LIV UK in JCB and played really well and obviously played well again today.
We all know the kind of player he is, and it's just a matter of building a little bit of confidence and then just kind of relaxing and let his game do the talking.
Q. Obviously you had a lot of birdies today and you had a couple bogeys as well. Do you feel like you got the most out of your round, or do you think your score settled where it should be based on how you played?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, it is what it is. It's as simple as that. If I shot 4-under, it's because I was meant to shoot 4-under. You can always sit here and say, oh, obviously a little break here, a little break there. Not so much the bogey on 15 but the bogey on 16 I feel like I hit two great shots, and unfortunately the ball just flew super far downwind.
You know, it is what it is. Me standing here saying, oh, yeah, I could have gotten a little better bounce on this hole or I could have made this putt over here or I could have made that putt over there, it doesn't matter. It doesn't change anything. It's just a moot point. We can talk about it, but it's not going to change my round.
Q. I wanted to ask you about that putter you put in, that Sergio Garcia, that prototype. You haven't played that this year. When is the last time you played that in a round?
SERGIO GARCIA: I played it in Miami last year, and I changed it because of that, because I went to a couple of greens that were a little bit slower, and then it becomes a little bit tougher for me to have to feel like I have to hit the ball a lot, and then I get a little bit out of rhythm.
I do like those putters that Scotty made for me in the late '90s, early 2000s. I have a putter coming soon that I'm working with a company in Switzerland, Golfyr, that I should be able to have it within the next probably three weeks or so, and I'm excited about it. I like the way it feels and I like the way it looks and stuff.
But at the end of the day, we're always trying to get better and improve, find better things that help your game, and we're always searching.
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