Golf fans are calling for former Masters champion Sergio Garcia to be banned for life after his furious meltdown at Augusta National on Sunday.
The Spaniard blew up after hitting a drive into the fairway bunker and smashed his driver repeatedly on the turf, ripping up some of the grass.
He then directed his fury at the cooler box next to the tee with an incandescent swipe, snapping the club head off the shaft.
Garcia, 46, is automatically allowed to play at every Masters tournament because he won it in 2017 but fans are now calling for that privilege to be revoked.
‘Garcia should be banned from the course for LIFE,’ said one fan on X, commenting on a clip of his rage, which had gone viral.
‘Respect the course and those who work to keep it pristine. Sergio has a history of disrespecting courses by tearing them up this way. He’s awful. Augusta should ban him,’ another said.
‘Shocking behaviour from a previous Masters Champion. Should be excluded from next year’s tournament. Petulant rubbish!’ one said.
‘Absolutely disgraceful behaviour. Get back to LIV where nobody watches or cares,’ another said.
One added: ‘Tell him he is not welcomed back to the Masters and to stick to his toy tour.’
Few diverged from that point of view, but some offered more sympathetic views, with one saying: ‘A breath of fresh air to see some emotion from a sportsman instead of being a robot.’
While Rory McIlroy made headlines for becoming just the fourth man in history to win back-to-back Masters titles, Garcia was grabbing attention for all the wrong reasons.
In another bizarre extension to his antics, he wandered off with Jon Rahm’s golf bag.
Garcia received a code of conduct warning by the Masters. He offered little explanation for his outburst.
‘Obviously not super proud of it, but sometimes it happens,’ he said, after ending the round +3 to go +8 overall.
When pressed further on his irascible behaviour and warning, he replied ‘I’m not going to tell you’ and eventually snapped: ‘Next question please’.
To make matters worse for Garcia, he was not even allowed to replace his driver as it was damaged because of abuse.
Despite his meltdown, Garcia managed to make par at the second. But stripped of his driver for the remaining 16 holes, he could only toil to an eight-over finish.
The on-tee eruption from Garcia was the latest incident in a long rap sheet. He was once disqualified at the 2019 Saudi International for ‘serious misconduct’ after purposefully damaging several greens the day after having a meltdown in a bunker.
He was embroiled in a tense confrontation with officials at the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship over a lost ball. At last year’s Open Championship, he snapped his driver during a fit in the final round.
