Interview/Sergio Garcia: As he walked down the 16th fairway, with the rain pelting down and the wind howling in what was a thoroughly miserable golfing environment, Sergio Garcia - the life and soul of Europe's Ryder Cup team - broke out into a mad laugh.
His caddie, Craig Harmon, one of two bagmen that the Spaniard employs, adopted a quizzical look. What was going on in Garcia's head? The player read his caddie's mind.
"I was just thinking, can you imagine playing this course in this wind if it was firm? You'd have to hit a wedge and fly it onto the front of the green to get to the back of the green on this hole. It's a good thing that it is wet."
Not one to whinge or crib about the conditions: "It's difficult but, at the same time, it is fun. It's fun to test yourself on a difficult golf course in really tough conditions and see what you can do," he explained.
Garcia shot a second round 70, for 141, one-under, that yet again puts him into a position to win a tournament, something that has evaded his best efforts, on both sides of the Atlantic, so far this season.
Although he was the life and soul of Europe's Ryder Cup win at The K Club last month, Garcia's consistency - five top-10s on the PGA Tour in America and seven top-10s in only 11 appearances on the PGA European Tour - has failed to deliver a tournament win in 2006 and he would like nothing better than to change that stark statistic on home soil in the Volvo Masters.
While others have the Order of Merit on their minds, that is not an issue for Garcia.
He was 14th on the money list heading into the season's finale at Valderrama, and his 70 moved him to tied-seventh, three shots behind midway leader Henrik Stenson, going into the weekend.
Garcia is unique among the world's elite players in that he has two caddies, Harmon and Glen Murray, who caddied for him at the Ryder Cup.
Why two? "One wasn't enough," he quipped. "No, it helps me keep the relationships fresh because I am not seeing the same guy over and over.
"After a long time, even if you have a great relationship, it kind of gets a little bit tired. So, this way, it helps me that I get to spend time with two guys that I enjoy spending time with on the golf course.
"They're both great caddies. One will do maybe three or four tournaments, and then have a few weeks off and then the other guy comes for three or four weeks. That way, they have free time to spend wherever they want."
The arrangement saw Murray caddie for Garcia at the Masters and the US Open, while Harmon was bagman at the British Open and the US PGA, where he finished third.
So far, a major has eluded Garcia, although he insisted that he had played well in the final rounds at both Hoylake and Medinah.
"I felt I played very nicely at the PGA and I didn't play that badly at the British Open.
"The only thing I can do is to keep playing as hard as I do. But it is really difficult to go out there in a major on a Sunday and hit 14 fairways and 18 greens, because there is a lot of pressure out there.
"You have to get lucky when you hit the right shots and, unfortunately for me, it hasn't happened. It feels like ever time I hit a bad shot, I'm right up against a tree or I get a really bad lie."
While the Volvo Masters is not a major, it is one of the flagship tournaments on the European Tour and Garcia would love to win it.
He heads into the weekend without having the pressure of worrying about the Order of Merit race, and focused on only one goal: of winning the tournament.
