Garcia denies making comment to Woods

By Mark Garrod and Carl Markham Special to PA SportsTicker

DUBLIN, Ireland (Ticker) - Sergio Garcia is denying making a comment that might just have made Tiger Woods want to beat him even more.

Garcia apparently remarked a few weeks ago that because Woods’ record is not very good in the Ryder Cup that he was looking forward to taking him on this weekend.

Woods, the best player in the world, responded Wednesday.

“Hopefully we can get together out there and play,” said Woods, who in February thrashed Stephen Ames by a record 9 and 8 at the Accenture World Match Play after the Canadian had said he thought he had a chance, “especially where he hits it.”

But Garcia shook his head when asked to discuss his comment.

“No, I haven’t said anything like that, not even in the team room or anything,” Garcia said. “I definitely don’t mind playing him. I’ve played him before and I’ve been fortunate enough to do pretty well against him. I guess I’ve had some nice partners.

“I think that he’s a wonderful player and he’s playing really nicely. As we all know, he has won five (tournaments) in a row until last week. The only thing I can do is hopefully play my best and help the team get some points.”

Garcia also knows what the primary goal is this weekend.

“The main thing is beating the Americans. I will go five losses and zero wins if that means we’re going to beat them,” he said.

Garcia made his original comments about Woods at a news conference in Switzerland two weeks ago.

“Fortunately for us he (Woods) doesn’t have a great Ryder Cup record and we will see what we can do,” Garcia said.

In his initial appearance in the Ryder Cup, Garcia and Jesper Parnevik beat Woods and Tom Lehman in Boston in 1999. Three years later, again in foursomes, Garcia and Lee Westwood upended Woods and Mark Calcavecchia at The Belfry.

Woods and Davis Love beat the same pair the following day. However, Woods and Garcia never clashed in Detroit two years ago.

While Garcia has won 10 of his 15 games so far, Woods has tasted success in only seven out of 20 . Neither has ever been left out of a session.

European captain Ian Woosnam believes the expected rough weather over the next few days could play into his team’s hands.

“I’m a true believer if you’ve got a great golf swing, you can play in anything,” he said. “The weather suits us. We’ve played much more in these conditions than the Americans. The air is much heavier over here. When the ball moves, whether you hit a slice or a draw, it moves twice as much as it does in America.

“But it’s the same for everybody. There are 24 great players and you have to go out and play with the elements.”

Despite weather concerns, European Tour executive director George O’Grady is hopeful the tournament will not have to be extended until Monday.

“We do not envision that at the moment,” he said. “We have time up our sleeve when Sunday comes. I think this is a one-off today.”

Any delay to play would make it difficult to complete foursomes and fourballs on each of the first two days, but with Sunday comprising only 12 singles, there is an opportunity then to make up for lost time.

“We want to play if the golf course is playable, and by that we mean balls stationary on the greens,” O’Grady said. “We have had contingencies for Monday built right in from the beginning, but we are not considering that at the moment.”

One issue certainly being considered is whether preferred lies - also known as ‘lift, clean and place’ - will be necessary when play gets under way Friday.

“The situation will be decided by chief referee Andy McFee, but in total agreement with the two captains,” O’Grady said. “The course is immaculate, but very, very wet. We will resist the temptation as far as we possibly can, but we would if we had to.”

Meanwhile, Woosnam has had to defend his style of leadership,

The Welshman often struggles to get his point across in media conferences and he was asked what he brought to the team room to motivate his players

“My will to win. My excitement,” he said. “I always seem to have battled all of my golfing career to prove something to someone and hopefully that will come out through the way I’ll captain my team this week.”