Sergio Garcia believes his game has never been in better shape as the Spaniard looks to end his wait for a first Major Championship victory.
The 33 year old has amassed 18 top-ten finishes in Majors ahead of this week’s US Open Championship at Merion, including being a runner-up three times, but The Ryder Cup star is confident his form is peaking at just the right time after finishing in the top 20 on all seven of his European Tour starts this season.
“I think that all aspects of the game have improved,” said Garcia, who played a practice round with Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal and their compatriot Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño.
“I've obviously hit the ball better consistently more often. I had my off weeks, but I think that the short game is better than it was probably three or four years ago.
“Overall I feel a lot calmer, a little bit more mature, I guess, and all those things probably helped.”
Course conditions in Pennsylvania are likely to be soft after heavy rain, but Garcia believes Merion will still offer plenty of challenges.
“I'm very happy to be here – it’s my first time in Philadelphia, so very excited about it,” he added.
“I played ten holes yesterday right after the rain, and then played eight holes this morning. Obviously it’s a wonderful golf course, great area, but unfortunately the weather is really not helping much, the conditions of the golf course.
“It’s a very good golf course, difficult, great variety of short and long holes. Probably the longest par threes I've ever played on a championship, and I'm excited to get going.
“It is tough. We all love playing every single tournament in hard, fast conditions, but unfortunately that's not the case this week.
“We can't control the weather. That's something that it's always been there in our sport and we have to deal with it. Hopefully we won't get any more rain, not for us but for the course itself, to make it as playable as possible and we'll try to do our best from there.”
