Garcia remains upbeat at Sawgrass despite mishap

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

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.