Sergio Garcia has issued a mea culpa.
The former Masters winner apologized Tuesday for his wild outburst during the final round on Sunday at Augusta, when he smashed his driver into the ground and whacked a nearby cooler, earning him a code-of-conduct warning.
“I want to apologize for my actions on Sunday at The Masters tournament,” Garcia wrote in an X post on Tuesday. “I respect and value everything that The Masters and Augusta National Golf Club is to Golf. I regret the way I acted and it has no place in our game. It doesn’t reflect the respect and appreciation I have for The Masters, the patrons, tournament officials and golf fans around the world.”
The 46-year-old, who won a green jacket in 2017, completely destroyed his driver during the tantrum and had to play the rest of the round without one. He finished the tournament in third-to-last place at 8-over.
“Obviously, not super proud of it, but sometimes it happens,’’ Garcia said Sunday.
Garcia was approached by a tournament official at the fourth tee and issued the warning as part of a code-of-conduct policy the PGA Tour has been developing. The other majors are likely to adopt the policy too, the Associated Press reported.
A second violation of the policy would result in a two-shot penalty, and a third gets a golfer disqualified.
Garcia refused after Sunday’s round to reveal what the official told him regarding the warning.
The LIV Golf defector has a history of meltdowns.
He similarly broke his driver during the second hole of last year’s British Open and had to finish without one.
Shortly before he left the PGA Tour in 2022, Garcia got snippy with an official at the Wells Fargo Championship regarding a lost ball.
“A couple of more weeks, I don’t have to deal with you anymore,” Garcia said at the time, alluding to his LIV move.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
