Garcia: I learned a lot from my Carnoustie experience

SERGIO GARCIA made some unpopular, even regrettable, comments after his failure to win the Open at Carnoustie last month.

The newspapers gave him a hard time and Peter Oosterhuis on the Golf Channel advised him that “it was time to grow up”.

So when the 27-year-old Spaniard made his way to the media centre yesterday, many wondered if he would compound his problems with a few more moans and excuses or whether he would conduct the session in a sensible and pragmatic manner.

As it transpired, those who went in there seeking blood were to be disappointed with Garcia generally handling himself calmly and impressively.

“It wasn’t easy the first couple of days or the week after but you get over it”, said the man who led for the first three days, lost a six shot lead in the final round and yet had a par four to win standing on the 18th tee.

“I just went and had some fun with friends and played some different sports and managed to get through it. I played a bit of tennis and went to the beach a couple of times, just to have fun, just to enjoy, get away a little from golf.

“I tried to just get all of the positive things out of it and there were a lot of positives. I had a lot of nice calls from friends and family. And now I’m ready for this week and hoping that I can give myself as good a chance as I had at Carnoustie.

“I learned a lot there. I stayed within myself the whole week. I was very calm all week, very confident in myself, very confident with my game. The only thing that bothered me was the extra wait on my second shot at 18.”

His father Victor is Sergio’s golf coach and mental coach and he performed both roles perfectly during and after Carnoustie.

“He told me ‘you did all you could, you did everything right’,” said Garcia.

“And I don’t regret any comments I might have made. Yeah, I was emotional. I opened myself to you guys and said what I felt. That’s pretty much it.

“I know there’s all the talk about not winning majors but I’ve always said it’s a matter of time. Being in the lead for four days of the Open is really going to help me in the future.”