Garcia undecided on U.S. and European Tours

Gifted rookie professional Sergio Garcia is undecided over whether to play in the United States or Europe full-time next year if he qualifies for both Tours.

The 19-year-old Spaniard starts his latest attempt to secure his European card in the Irish Open on Thursday. He has already moved to within 100,000 dollars of making his American card.

"A couple of top fives this week and next (at the Loch Lomond Invitational) will take a lot of pressure off me," said Garcia who is about 20,000 pounds ($31,490) short of his card in Europe.

"It will also give me a good chance of qualifying for the British Open without having to go to pre-qualifying.

"If I do soon make my European card and also earn enough for the American tour I don't know what I'm going to do now. Even though I like playing in America I like playing on my own continent.

"I'll have to talk to my family about it. The one thing I won't be doing is focusing on both tours.

"It doesn't work. Plenty of players before have proved that. If I get both cards I'll either play 15 to 18 tournaments in Europe and seven or eight in the States or 15 to 18 tournaments in the States and seven or eight here," said Garcia.

Reuters