At Open Championships, many pros hit driver less frequently than usual, often opting for a wood, hybrid or long iron off the tee on many holes. Sergio Garcia is taking that to another level on Sunday at the 2025 Open. Not for strategic reasons, but because he snapped his driver in anger early in the round and the rules bar him from replacing it.
Here’s what you need to know.
Garcia breaks his driver on Open Sunday
Before Sunday, Sergio’s performance at Royal Portrush could be described as steady if unspectacular. He opened with a solid one-under 70 on Thursday, fell back with a 73 on Friday, then steadied himself with a 70 on Saturday.
While his score of even par to start Sunday’s final round wouldn’t give him a chance to win (leader Scottie Scheffler begins Round 4 at 14 under), he could be proud of his result considering his age (45) and the fact that he nearly didn’t qualify at all.
Garcia earned his spot at this week’s Open Championship through a brand-new LIV Golf exemption enacted this year. Said exemption applies to the top pro in the top five of the LIV Individual Standings who is not already exempt.
But any gratitude the former Masters champion may have been feeling seemed to disappear quickly Sunday morning at Portrush.
Teeing off at 4:55 a.m. ET alongside Justin Leonard, Garcia opened his final round with a par despite losing his tee shot to the left. And any pro is happy with a par on the devilish 1st this week.
But when Garcia watched his tee shot (which appeared to be with a driver) sail short and left again on the par-5 2nd, apparently the frustration had built up to a breaking point.
Garcia angrily smashed his driver into the 2nd tee box, snapping it halfway up the shaft, and then watched as the half with the clubhead flew toward his golf bag and caddie.
Check out the moment below.
Later on Sunday, Garcia expressed surprise that his shaft had broken during his moment of frustration.
“To be totally honest, I didn’t feel like I did that much on the 2nd tee. Obviously I didn’t hit a good drive, and I kind of — I didn’t smack it straight down. I kind of like swiped it back. I’ve done that 50 times, and I’ve never broken a club. The shaft just snapped in half, and I was surprised. I wasn’t trying to break it, and I was actually surprised when I saw that — because usually, if it breaks, it breaks by the neck, and it broke in the middle of the shaft.
“I don’t know, maybe the shaft had a little thing there because I didn’t feel like with what I did it should have broken, but that’s what it was, and then I got some good practice when I threw it.”
