Garcia upbeat about European's chances

Spaniard Sergio Garcia believes the dominant showing by American golfers, notably Tiger Woods, at the world championship in Ireland last week, will count for nothing when it comes to who will win the Ryder Cup.

The 22-year-old doesn't want fans of Sam Torrance's European team to lose heart and insists the Cup is a completely new ball game.

"This means nothing," he said. "You can shoot a good round today and play badly next week, or you can score a good round today and play even better next week, or not shoot such a good round.

While Woods swept all before him at Mount Juliet, United States captain Curtis Strange will be a confident man after watching David Toms finish joint fourth and Davis Love eighth, while Phil Mickelson equalled the course record when he played his last nine holes in 30 for a 64.

Of course Garcia promptly beat that record less than an hour later with a 62 to finish seventh.

"This is just a different tournament," Garcia added. "The atmosphere and the energy and everything inside of you changes for a Ryder Cup.

"I think even the players who are not playing that great, you try extra hard to play well in the Ryder Cup. It shows on every Ryder Cup. And it's match play, not stroke play.

"I've always been looking forward to it and now it's a year later (because of the September 11 attacks the match was postponed for 12 months) it's even more.

"I'm looking forward to hopefully having a good week as a team. Hopefully everybody will play well and just try to win the cup back.

"It's going to be hard, but we'll stick together and try as hard as we can. I think we have a chance."

Garcia's three victories this season are more than the rest of the European team put together - Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke are the only others to have won a title.