Tuesday 26 September 2017 20:11, UK
Sergio Garcia insisted he will not change his late-season schedule to enhance his chances of being crowned European No 1 for the first time.
Garcia is looking forward to making a rare appearance on UK soil this week as he tees up in the British Masters supported by Sky Sports, and he has committed to five more European Tour events before the year is out.
But two of those events, in Hong Kong and Australia, are part of next season's schedule, and the Masters champion is playing in just one of the three Race to Dubai Final Series tournaments - the grand finale at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Garcia is currently second in the Race to Dubai standings and, although he trails runaway leader Tommy Fleetwood by over 900,000 euros, he has the chance to close the gap at Close House before he plays in the Italian Open and hosts the Andalucia Valderrama Masters.
Asked about his desire to win the Race to Dubai, Garcia said: "It is a motivation but it's not going to change my schedule. I'm already playing six tournaments and I'm not going to go crazy.
"I think that what I'm playing, if I'm playing well, it should be enough. If it's not enough, I'll congratulate whoever gets it. At the end of the day, I know what clicks for me and I don't want to overdo something now towards the end of the year, and then feel it throughout next year.
"I still have to think not only present but future, and you know, we have to control what helps us and hurts us. So my goals are pretty much the same as always; play the best I can and if my best is at a good level, where I know that I can play, then I'm going to be up there with chances of winning.
"Obviously the Race to Dubai is still up for grabs and it would be nice to have a solid chance when we get to Dubai."
Garcia was persuaded to make the trip to the North East by tournament host Lee Westwood, and he added: "It's always exciting to come back to British Isles and the UK and play in front of these crowds. I've always said, it's my favourite people to play in front of, not only for the support but how much they know about the game and how respectful they are.
"I've seen some really good things in my game coming along so I'm excited about that, excited to keep the run that I had the last couple of weeks this week here, and hopefully have a really good week and have a solid chance at winning here will be amazing.
"I think all of these little things that we're doing here and there with the Hero Challenge and some new formats with the GolfSixes and things like that, hopefully it's helping rejuvenate the Tour and the golf a little bit to make sure that all those young people get into it."
Westwood is delighted to have the likes of Garcia and Rory McIlroy on board for the week in a star-studded field that also includes Ryder Cup stars Martin Kaymer, Ian Poulter, 2015 champion Matt Fitzpatrick and last year's Masters champion Danny Willett.
"I don't know whether it's me, the reason why the players have turned out, but if it is, then that's fantastic. It means a lot," said Westwood. "Sergio doesn't play in Britain very often, but committed so far in advance so we could use him in the promotion of the event.
"I asked Rory at Sergio's wedding, when we'd had a couple glasses of wine, and he said if he didn't get to the Tour Championship he would think seriously about playing here and it's great he's turning out. He's one of the few players in the world that I would turn out at a golf tournament to watch.
"It's one of the strongest fields we've had all year on Tour I think. I can't believe how good a field it is."
