As a Masters champion and Ryder Cup icon, Sergio García boasts a resume that most golf lovers could only dream of. Yet for a few furious seconds at The Open Championship on Sunday, he was relatable to even the most amateur of hackers.
The Spaniard played the last 16 holes of his 26th appearance at the major without his driver after snapping the club in frustration just five shots into his final round at Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland.
Having opened with par, the 45-year-old wasted little time in showing his displeasure when his drive from the second tee careened left into the rough alongside the fairway. In an almost fluid follow through from his swing, ball still in the air, García slammed his driver into the turf.
The outburst stopped there, but the damage was done, as the lower half of the severed club bounced away towards the 11-time PGA Tour winner’s bag. With players permitted to repair or replace clubs “except in cases of abuse,” as per the rules of tournament organizers The R&A, García headed on without one of his most important weapons.
On his return to the clubhouse, García said he had not been trying to break the club and was “surprised” to see it snap in half.
“I’ve done that 50 times, and I’ve never broken a club,” he told reporters.
“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.”
Yet, despite not having all 14 clubs, the 2017 Masters champion still went on to card his best round of a solid week on the Causeway Coast.
After recovering superbly at the par-five second to make birdie, García poured in four more – including three across the back nine – to shoot three-under 68, bettering his third round bogey-free 70 and lifting him to three-under par overall.
Though that left him well short of tournament leader Scottie Scheffler, who took a four-shot advantage into the final round at 14-under par, it looks set to be a marked improvement on his last outing at the major: a tied-68th finish at St Andrews in 2022.
“(If) I started with 14 (clubs), I don’t know, maybe I would have shot worse. You never know,” García said.
Bethpage calling
Runner-up in both 2007 and 2014, García had played in 24 successive Opens before falling short at Final Qualifying in the past two years.
An agonizing missed putt from three feet in March looked to have extinguished his hopes of a place in this year’s field, only for him to subsequently secure his spot as the leading non-exempt player on the LIV Golf rankings – a new entry category introduced for the 153rd edition of the tournament.
García will be hoping his performance impressed European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald, as the biennial competition’s all-time record points scorer (28.5) looks to make the Englishman’s roster for the 45th edition in Farmingdale, New York this September.
Should he be chosen as a wildcard, six-time winner García would draw level with Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood for the most Ryder Cup appearances for Europe (11), one shy of American Phil Mickelson’s all-time record.
“It’s no secret that we have been talking,” García said of Donald Sunday. “It would mean the world to me to be there. Obviously if I can help the team, that’s my main goal, I’ve always said it.
“I think that I can bring things to the team … to any team that would probably need it. Obviously at the end of the day, he’s going to make whatever he thinks is the best decision for him and his team.”
“It’s still a couple months to go. I wish I could have a crystal ball and see the future, but unfortunately, I cannot,” he added.
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