AUGUSTA, Ga. — How’s that for a headline. And it’s all true.
Paired with fellow countryman Jon Rahm on Sunday at the Masters, Garcia — the 2017 champion — pushed his tee shot at No. 2 off to the right. What followed reportedly got him a code of conduct warning from Augusta National’s chairman of the competition committee, Geoff Yang.
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In the course of just a few seconds, Garcia slammed his club into the tee box, then took a whack at a cooler that snapped off the head of his driver. Then, for some reason, he picked up Rahm’s bag and carried it down the second fairway.
“Just obviously not super proud of it, but sometimes it happens,” Garcia said after his round.
When asked what Yang said to him, Garcia responded, “I’m not going to tell you.”
As mentioned, the green jackets at Augusta National don’t take kindly to such actions. During Round 1, Robert MacIntyre flipped the bird after hitting a ball in the water at 15. That reportedly earned him a talking to after his round.
While a lewd gesture certainly doesn’t fit into Augusta decorum, damaging a tee box is inarguably a more egregious offense, which is why Garcia, who was +6 for the tournament at the time, got a talking to before he teed off at No 4.