(Reuters) – Sergio Garcia may not have got much sleep after Europe’s Ryder Cup letdown but the Spaniard said on Wednesday his energy level is good ahead of his title defense this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi.
Garcia, who is the lone participant from last week’s Ryder Cup in the field at the Country Club of Jackson, went 3-1-0 at Whistling Straits but it was not enough to prevent a crushing defeat by the United States.
“I’m not going to lie, obviously didn’t get much sleep on Sunday night. But Monday and Tuesday it’s been good, I was able to rest a little bit in Austin with the family, got here last night and I feel pretty good at the moment,” said Garcia.
“Obviously, you all know how much I love the Ryder Cup and even though, yes, there’s a lot of energy involved in it and that you put on it and stuff, I still love it every time I play it.”
Garcia won the three Ryder Cup matches he played with fellow Spaniard and world number one Jon Rahm before losing to Bryson DeChambeau in the singles as the United States romped to a 19-9 victory in the biennial team event.
World number 43 Garcia, who made his Ryder Cup debut in 1999 and has been on the winning European team six times in 10 appearances, said the pain of Whistling Straits has yet to subside.
“You obviously think about it a little bit, it’s very fresh, but at the same time I’m obviously 41 now and … I’ve been fortunate to play many Ryder Cups and win many and also loss some so, we just got out played, it’s as simple as that,” said Garcia.
“Obviously, we would have loved to do a little bit better and probably be a little bit sharper on those key moments where they were sharp and we were just a little bit off and they took advantage of that.”
Garcia, whose victory at the Country Club of Jackson last year marked the latest of his 11 PGA Tour titles and first since the 2017 Masters, will play the opening two rounds this week with Sebastian Munoz and Peter Malnati.
The field includes seven of the top 50 golfers in the rankings, led by world number 25 Sam Burns.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
