|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
10 Questions Garcia talks about computer games, Parnevik’s hat
Posted: Wednesday June 14, 2000 06:57 PM
Sergio Garcia took the golf world by storm with a second-place finish at the 1999 PGA Championship. Now, he is in his first full year on the PGA Tour. While preparing for the U.S. Open, the Spanish prodigy took a few minutes to talk about his nickname and computer games with CNNSI.com. 1. This is your second trip to Pebble Beach. Is there a better place than this? I've been a lot of great places, but there isn't many things better than this. Look at it. It's a beautiful place. I took my mom here yesterday for the first time and she was totally impressed. There isn't anything like it. It's a beautiful golf course. 2. How many times have you heard guys trying to be funny this week by asking things like "Will El Nino hit the Monterey Peninsula?" Too many. 3. So, do you ever get tired of getting called by your nickname? I don't mind, but I prefer to be recognized by Sergio Garcia. Don't get me wrong, I like being called El Nino, but sometimes I just want to be called by my real name. 4. You're already known for being an aggressive golfer. Some people think you've never met a shot you didn't like. Well, have you? This week I will. Patience is the most important thing at this course, especially at the U.S. Open. You can be in really bad position and you have to think, "OK, I can try to hit this shot and maybe make par, but if I don't do it, maybe I make double or triple." You have to realize that sometimes par is a great score and bogey is not that bad. 5. OK, fess up. What are your guilty pleasures? I love to play computer games. Golf games? You ever play Pebble Beach on the computer?
Nah, I prefer the real thing. 6. So, no Tiger Woods '99 then, huh. Well, do you play into this rivalry between you and Tiger that everybody seems intent on creating? I don't think there is a rivalry between Woods and me. You have to take care of everybody. There are a lot of great golfers on the Tour. Last year, Payne won and Tiger finished third. So you have to beat Phil Mickelson and Payne Stewart to win last year, not just Tiger Woods. 7. But do you ever find yourself glancing at the scoreboard to see how Tiger did? I do. I always like to see how far in front or how far behind from him you are because he's a good player to look up to see what the tournament is doing. If he's doing well, you know that beating him means you're probably winning the tournament or close to it. 8. Most people your age are racking their brains over what their major will be. You're here trying to win a major. Do you ever pinch yourself because you can't believe you are here? Not really. Yeah, everything has happened fast, but I worked real hard to get to this point. Sometimes I think I'm lucky, but then I think what I did, how hard I worked to get to this point. 9. Does it add more pressure having this much hoopla and this much success at such a young age? Or do you think that your time will come? I think I have to take my time. If I win now, it will be great, but the good thing is that I'm only 20 years old, so hopefully I'm going to play a lot of majors. Hopefully I'll be lucky enough to win some of them. I don't know when it's going to come. Hopefully soon, but we'll see. 10. You played with Jesper Parnevik today in your practice round. Could you ever wear your hat like that? No, but it looks good on him. Jesper's a special person and he has a special style. I guess it's a Swedish thing.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
