On Saturday, Sergio Garcia was DQ’d from the Saudi International for a bizarre incident in which he intentionally damaged as many as five greens at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club out of frustration. Sergio left a mark in at least one green with his putter and dragged the sole of his shoe across several others, leaving so much damage that several players behind him complained, and leading to his disqualification for “serious misconduct.”
As it turns out, it wasn’t the only time during the week that Garcia lost his cool. A day earlier, the 39-year-old Spaniard had a moment of rage captured by SkySports cameras in the bunker at the par-5 fourth hole. Coming off back-to-back birdies, Garcia found the front greenside bunker in two but drew a poor lie and failed to get his first attempt out, according to SkySports.
After his second attempt from the sand, Sergio went berserk on the bunker. With playing partners Matt Wallace and Dustin Johnson looking on, Garcia took his wedge to the sand, tomahawking the surface four times in quick succession before uttering a string of curse words in Spanish on his way up to the green. Check it out below:
Sergio Garcia’s meltdown in a Royal Greens bunker a day prior to his disqualification for vandalism work on five greens. Story by @SkySportsGolf fills in details. Translations welcomed! https://t.co/UoGmPtTOz4 pic.twitter.com/dQMDN7y2PC
— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) February 4, 2019
Garcia went on to make the putt for his par and shot even-par 70 to make the cut before his DQ the following day. He reportedly apologized to his fellow players for Saturday’s incident and European Tour CEO Keith Pelley said Garcia would receive no further discipline.
The Spaniard had been on a run of recent good form, notching top-10s in his previous six European Tour starts including a win at Valderrama, an event his foundation hosts.
The tournament marked the first major tournament ever played in Saudi Arabia, which sparked controversy based on the involvement of the Saudi government and its history of human rights violations. Nonetheless, the event drew four of the world’s top five players due in part to hefty appearance fees. Garcia was reportedly given in excess of a half-million dollars to show up, while top players like Johnson, who went on to win, received even more.
