Sergio Garcia is hoping to continue the fine form that saw him finish fifth at last week’s US Open Championship at the BMW International Open.
The World Number 12 was right in the mix during a fascinating final round in Pennsylvania before Dustin Johnson eventually pulled clear to win the year’s second Major Championship.
Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof is set to provide a very different test to Oakmont this week, but having finished 29th and 12th on his two previous appearances over the course Garcia, who has now finished in the top ten on 21 occasions in Majors Championships – is not too concerned about making the necessary adjustments.
His main concerns should come from the quality of opposition he faces in a high quality field which includes Masters Champion Danny Willett and Henrik Stenson.
Willett landed his first European Tour title at the BMW International Open here in 2012 after a play-off with Marcus Frazer, while Stenson has won the event twice in Munich and lost a play-off at Gut Laerchenhof to Fabrizio Zanotti in 2014.
Sergio Garcia: “I am excited about the week,” he said. “I am a little jet-lagged and short of energy but I am sure I will find it for tomorrow. Obviously this week is a different test from Oakmont – there are more options here and you can be more aggressive but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter how tough the golf course is because at the end of the day you need to hit good shots and make putts to win anywhere.
“I think it probably helps that I have played here before but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tired and not just because of the jet-lag but because of what the US Open, and particularly Oakmont, asks of you physically and mentally. But hopefully I will be close to 100 per cent and be able to play to a good level.”
Danny Willett: “It’s always good to come and support BMW events because they do so much for golf – especially the European Tour. It’s nice to be back here as well – there are some lovely memories from winning in 2012. I remember that the weather was terrible on the final day and we couldn’t quite keep the ball under control that day so I had a four shot lead but then I managed to get into the play-off and eventually came through against Marcus.
“I think the first tour win was just more confirmation that I could compete out here and win. There are so many great players at the start of every week that it is very difficult to win and you never really know that you can do it until you get it over the line. So it gave me a lot of belief and confidence and proved to me that I could win at a pretty high level. Any time you can be up there and in contention then your confidence grows. The last two years have been really good in terms of improving as a golfer and just getting things right. I had a few back issues that held me back a little bit but we have worked out how to manage that properly and I suppose I have just got more and more confidence with all the good results I have had.”
Henrik Stenson: “We all have certain tournaments that we have on our schedule year in, year out, and this is certainly one of them. I’ve been quite successful both at this course and down in Munich when I won in ‘06. I like coming to Germany, I’ve got a lot of fans here, I’ve been playing well and I enjoy the week so it’s good to be back.
“To be fair, two years ago I was not really in the mix but I got on a real spurt on the back nine and I made a couple of birdies and made a good eagle on 12 and another birdie on 13 so I came from quite far back and a really good back nine put me right in the mix.”
