Augusta, as you might have heard, is big on rules. No phones. No running. No curling up under the inviting shade of a loblolly and sneaking a quick nap. And, oh yeah, most definitely no pounding tee boxes with your driver with the ferocity of a butcher tenderising a side of beef.
Alas, that was the scene on Augusta National’s 2nd tee box Sunday morning after the drive of 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia began tracking toward the par-5’s cavernous fairway bunker. This wasn’t Garcia’s first course-rage incident but given the grandness and decorousness of the stage — and the vigour with which he perpetrated said steam-release — the meltdown may live forever as his most infamous.
If you’re a golf fan and you’ve been anywhere near social media in the last 24 hours, you’ve seen the clip. As Garcia’s tee ball begins to tail toward the right side of the fairway, he uncoils from his backswing and takes a mighty back-handed lash at the turf, creating a meaty divot in the tee box. That’s quickly followed by a second Garcia swing, though on this swipe he generously spares the sod beneath him. Shane Bacon, an A+ talker calling the action for Masters.com, is speechless. He offers only a grunt.
Garcia wasn’t done. Moments later, the 46-year-old Spaniard wound up again and hammered his Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond into a cooler stand to the right of the tee, leaving the driver head dangling off the shaft like a fish from a rod. Garcia clasped the head with his right hand and finished the job. Time of death: approximately 9:45 a.m. local time.
Garcia maintained enough of his cool to save par on the hole but then bogeyed the 3rd and 4th. After turning in 2 over, he made two more bogies and a birdie on the inward nine to sign for a 3-over 75 that left him 8 over for the tournament. Garcia could have bolted for the parking lot. He didn’t. He answered the Spanish-speaking media’s questions for more than 4 minutes before giving the English-speaking press a couple of more minutes.
Of his outburst, Garcia said he wasn’t “super proud of it, but sometimes it happens.” He said it was a result of frustration that had been building throughout the year. On the LIV Golf tour, Garcia has just one top-10 finish in five finishes in 2026 and his Fireballs are ranked 8th among LIV’s 13 teams. Augusta National is a course at which he has fond memories, but it has also been years since he’s played well here. This week marked just the second time Garcia has played the weekend at the Masters in his last eight appearances. He opened 72-75 to make the cut by one before closing 74-75.
Augusta National was not impressed with Garcia’s behaviour. On the 4th hole, Geoff Yang, Augusta National’s newly appointed chairman of the competition committee, had a word with Garcia and issued him a code of conduct warning.
What did Yang say? “I’m not going to tell you,” Garcia said.
Garcia did speak to one other bit of weirdness that unfolded on the 2nd hole. After Garcia had played his second shot from the bunker, Adam Hayes, who caddies for Garcia’s Sunday playing partner, Jon Rahm handled raking duties for Garcia’s caddie, Benji Thompson. To repay the favour, Thompson picked up both Garcia and Rahm’s bags, which led Garcia to help out his guy — and to the peculiar imagery of a former Masters champion strolling down a fairway with a hulking tour bag slung over his shoulder. “I told him, ‘Just put it down,’” Garcia said. “’I’ll get it so you can go and get a yardage.’ Just as simple as that.”
Rahm, who capped his Masters with a 68 but had opened with rounds of 78-70-73, was asked what it was like playing alongside Garcia. “Obviously he hasn’t been swinging it the way he would like,” Rahm said. “Wasn’t the easiest day for him so I kind of — not much I can say. To talk to him when I could and lift his spirits up a little bit. But felt like I was exactly where he was at today the last few days so I can’t really say much.”
Reporters had more questions for Garcia, but he was about as chatty as a Carthusian monk. When asked about his poor record at Augusta National since his 2017 win, Garcia offered only, “Bad golf.”
Could he be more specific?
“Bad shots,” he said.
Like, more specific?
“Well, if you don’t hit good shots, you’re not going to score well here,” he said. “It’s very simple.”
When an intrepid inquisitor circled back to Garcia’s interaction with Yang chat on the 4th hole, Garcia wouldn’t bite.
“Next question, please.”
But there were no more questions.
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