Sergio Garcia is excited to get his DP World Tour season going as he makes his 13th appearance at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic.
The Spaniard made his debut at Emirates Golf Club as an amateur in 1999 and since turning professional later that year he has won 16 DP World Tour titles, including this one in 2017, the same year he became a Major Champion at the Masters Tournament.
With a further ten victories on the PGA TOUR and having established himself as the highest points-scorer in Ryder Cup history, there is little left to achieve in golf for the 42-year-old, but he insists motivation will never be an issue as he starts his 24th full season on Tour.
"It feels good," said Garcia, who could add a Rolex Series victory to his CV this week. "I'm excited about it.
"Obviously I had a couple of months off but put a little bit of work on it as soon as the new year came around. I'm excited to keep playing well and try to climb up on the World Rankings and everything about it.
"I love the game. I love the challenges that the game brings to you and I try to improve every time, every year when I come out here.
"At the end of the day, I think that's the most important thing, enjoying what you do, and that's a big part of why I keep coming out here and trying to play well.
"Just keep at it, keep trying to improve, get better. Kind of have some good weeks so my World Ranking gets even better than it is at the moment and hopefully it would be nice to get some wins in there."
With three top-tens including his victory in the last five years, Garcia knows Emirates Golf Club better than most but he will face a new challenge in 2022.
I love the game. I love the challenges that the game brings to you and I try to improve every time, every year when I come out here
All the greens have been completely rebuilt and Garcia is delighted with the job done by the team in Dubai.
"They are good, they are in good shape," he said. "Obviously they are very new, so they haven't quite settled yet. There's a lot of little breaks here and there that are difficult to see. But other than that, they are nice.
"They are fairly firm. They are good surfaces and they are bigger. The greens are bigger than they have been in a few years.
"So I think that you can definitely have a lot more flexibility when it comes to setting up the golf course, probably some pin positions that we haven't seen in ten, 20 years, so it will be interesting to see how it plays."
