Dubai: Sergio Garcia has said it will be difficult for his old rival Tiger Woods to regain his magic touch.
“If you mean like the way he played like in early 2000 and stuff like that, it’s difficult,” said Garcia, on the sidelines of this week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club, where both players will feature.
“I think that he’s obviously got a lot of qualities and can obviously get to a high level. I think to get to that level is very difficult, even for him, because he’s 40 now. So his body doesn’t move in the way it used to move when he was 20, 25.
“But we’ll see. I think everything is a little bit of question mark for all of us, so we’ll see how it goes in the next four or five months.”
Garcia and Woods, who has just returned from a 15-month injury layoff, have both endured a long, bitter and well-publicised rivalry since the late 1990s.
But now Tiger has joined TaylorMade, both are essentially on the same team, at least in terms of kit supplier. Garcia recently congratulated and welcomed Tiger, which could mean an end to the feud.
“I think at the end of the day we’re all professionals here,” said Garcia. “I’m proud that he chose to join TaylorMade and obviously TaylorMade are keen and so am I. Anything that can help our sponsors and the game, it’s always welcome.
“I just hope he has a good time with it, I’ve had a great relationship with adidas and TaylorMade my whole career. So, we’re excited about it and you know, we’ll see at the end of the day. Everything is a bit of question mark to see how he’s going to respond physically and everything, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
