JACKSON, Miss. — Sergio Garcia didn’t get much sleep Sunday night.
Despite a 3-1-0 showing at Whistling Straits to improve his Ryder Cup record to 25-13-7, the European’s were routed by the Americans, 19-9, a result that hasn’t quite hit home yet for the 10-time member of Team Europe.
The 41-year-old is the lone Ryder Cup player to make the trek from Wisconsin to Country Club of Jackson this week for the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he’ll look to defend his title last season for the first time in his PGA Tour career.
“I mean I feel good. 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 on Wednesday after a nine-hole practice round. “I mean you obviously think about it a little bit, it’s very fresh, but at the same time I’m obviously 41 now and I played, 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, they played better than us and we gave it everything we had. So we can’t really ask ourselves for more.”
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The only players to earn more than two points, Garcia and Jon Rahm were the bright spots for Padraig Harrington’s squad. The Spanish tandem took down Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in Friday Foursomes, Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger in Saturday Foursomes and Koepka and Jordan Spieth in Saturday Four-Ball. Their lone losses of the week came in singles, with Rahm falling to U.S. rookie Scottie Scheffler and Garcia to Bryson DeChambeau.
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“You don’t get to world No. 1 and do all the things he’s done just by luck or by chance. So it was nice to be a part of it, it was nice to be his partner and kind of combine nicely between the two of us,” said Garcia of his successful pairing with Rahm. “So I had a great time with him, he had a great time with me, we made a good team and hopefully we’ll be able to do it again sometime soon.”
Sometime soon would either be at the PGA Tour’s team event in April, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana, or at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club near Rome, Italy, when Garcia will be 43.
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