Garcia favourite for Major break through

The Real Madrid striker is one of a select band of Spain-based sporting stars who regularly phone and text each other with good luck messages before major events, Garcia revealed at Royal Troon on Wednesday.

"The tennis players and a lot of the soccer players send me messages or leave me notes telling me 'well done' or 'hope you do well this week' and things like that," he told reporters at a news conference.

"Ronaldo and (Madrid defender) Miguel Salgado sometimes give me a call and ask how things are going. I think the support is there, all right."

Garcia, 24, has finished in the top 10 at the Open in the last three years and is one of the favourites again at Troon having won twice on the PGA Tour in the U.S. this season.

For a child prodigy -- he took up the game at three, won his club championship at 12 and was scratch handicap aged 13 -- the popular Spaniard is taking his time about winning his first major having made his debut at 16 in the 1996 British Open.

He insists, though, he is in no hurry for his breakthrough in one of golf's four blue ribband events -- the British and U.S. opens, the U.S. Masters and the U.S. PGA.

"If I play half decent for the next 10 years I should have 40 chances of winning a major and I just have to keep putting myself in that position," he said.

"There are some guys that maybe get a bit of luck and have one or two chances and they win it and there are some guys that it takes 15 or 20 chances. So it looks like I'm one of those 15 or 20 chance guys."

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