Garcia remains upbeat at Sawgrass despite mishap

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Spaniard Sergio Garcia shrugged off the frustration of a double-bogey on the penultimate hole after slipping back into a tie for second place at the Players Championship on Friday.

Two ahead of the chasing pack at the start of a humid, blustery day at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, Garcia ended the second round one stroke behind after shooting a one-over-par 73.

"I'm not disappointed," the 28-year-old Spaniard told reporters after posting a five-under total of 139.

"I think that I played well. I was quite calm. I felt like I was in control of what I was doing and unfortunately it just would have been nice to make that putt on 18."

Garcia, who had surrendered a one-shot cushion by double-bogeying the treacherous 17th, narrowly missed a seven-foot birdie putt at the par-four last.

"It just didn't want to go in," he added. "What can you do about that?"

The Spaniard, whose last PGA Tour victory came at the 2005 Booz Allen Classic, hit 14 fairways out of 14 in a superb exhibition of driving but ran up a total of 33 putts on the sun-baked greens.

"The way I played, I probably deserved a bit more than I got," he said. "It was really difficult out there. It was so windy and the greens were getting quite firm towards the back nine.

FINISHING STRETCH

"Unfortunately these things can happen when you have 16, 17 and 18 coming in under these conditions," he added of the notorious finishing stretch on the Stadium Course.

Garcia, seeking his seventh PGA Tour victory, was fortunate his tee shot did not bounce through the green into water off the island green at the 17th.

"The wind stopped a little bit on my first shot and it went a little bit long and left," he said.

"Then I got lucky there catching the cart path because it probably would have gone in the water if it would have been straight."

After getting a free drop beside the cart path, Garcia chipped back across the green before hitting his third shot seven feet short of the hole. He then missed the bogey putt.

"It was a tricky putt," he said. "It felt like it was probably left edge but it almost looked like it wanted to go straight. I probably hit it about straight and it just went a little right.

"At the end of the day, the good thing is I'm still there with a good chance coming into the weekend," added Garcia, who goes into Saturday's third round one shot behind pacesetting American Kenny Perry.

"I feel like my game is in good shape. I feel like my short game is in good shape, too, so hopefully I can pull through it."

(Editing by Martin Petty)