One of the viral moments from the Masters had nothing to do with play, as during Sunday’s round LIV Golf’s Sergio Garcia damaged a tee box and broke his club following a poor drive. The incident led to Garcia being reprimanded by an Augusta National official under a new code of conduct policy, which will also be in play at next month’s PGA Championship. Asked Wednesday about that policy at the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage, Max Homa spoke about what he thinks violates that policy, while indirectly speaking about Garcia’s actions.

“I don’t like when people break clubs. I don’t like when people beat up the golf course because we deal with it, and I think breaking clubs makes us look very, very spoiled,” Homa said. “I try my absolute best not to do it, and when it does happen, as far as slamming a tee box, I’m very upset with myself because we’re very lucky to play this game where we do, and I think it is a bad look.”

Homa, who has been open with his struggles with the game, acknowledged he has his own bad habits, specifically his language. “I very much try to do it not when a kid can hear,” Homa said. “So I do think there’s some, hey, don’t say it in front of the wrong person, like be a bit aware of your surroundings.” He also asserted how this frustrating sport can lead to frustrating actions.

Still, while Homa said he doesn’t know where to draw the line, destroying the course is a non-starter.

“I definitely think beating up a golf course would be probably—because the rest of us have to play it. But that’s a tough thing to handle or to decide upon because it is so subjective,” Homa said. “If I do something where no one is watching on TV, that gets graded a lot lower than when it’s in front of everybody. I don’t know how you would land that plane.

“It’s never a bad thing to have that conversation being had at Augusta. That’s good. Between that and pace-of-play stuff, there’s things we can address, and we can wait until we figure it out until we implement it, but at least the conversation is going that way. We want to inspire the next generation to be better than us, so we need to be held to a higher standard.”

Two days after the incident, Garcia issued a statement regarding his outburst. “I want to apologise for my actions on Sunday at the Masters tournament,” Garcia wrote. “I respect and value everything that the Masters and Augusta National Golf Club is to golf. I regret the way I acted and it has no place in our game. It doesn’t reflect the respect and appreciation I have for the Masters, the patrons, tournament officials and golf fans around the world.”

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Two days after breaking his driver and damaging a tee box in a fit of rage during the final round of the Masters, Sergio Garcia issued an apology for his actions.

Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, took to social media on Tuesday to ask for forgiveness.

“I want to apologise for my actions on Sunday at The Masters Tournament,” he wrote. “I respect and value everything that The Masters and Augusta National Golf Club is to Golf. I regret the way I acted and it has no place in our game. It doesn’t reflect the respect and appreciation I have for The Masters, the patrons, tournament officials and golf fans around the world.”

pic.twitter.com/HgWI8WVBXS

— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) April 14, 2026

After making a bogey on the first hole to open the final round, Garcia hit a wayward drive on the par-5 second hole, the ball eventually landing in a fairway bunker. The 46-year-old Spaniard proceeded to slam his driver into the ground on the tee twice, taking chunks of turf out in the process. He then walked toward a cooler on the right of the tee box and swung his driver at it, snapping the shaft near the clubhead.

It didn’t take long for Garcia’s actions to be shared via social media. Two holes later, Geoff Yang, the Masters competition committee chairman, spoke to Garcia, delivering a code of conduct warning according to broadcast commentators and the Associated Press.

Garcia played the rest of the round without his driver, hitting 3-wood off several tees. He went on to shoot a three-over 75 and finished the tournament 52nd out of the 54 players who made the cut, with a score of eight-over-par 296.

Immediately after the round, Garcia spoke with the media but offered short answers to a series of questions. “Just obviously not super proud of it, but sometimes it happens,” when asked about the incident, suggestion it was built-up frustration over the course of the year in which he’s had just one top-10 finish in five starts on the LIV Golf circuit and three times has come in outside the top 30.

When a reporter followed-up with a question about what Yang told him on the course, Garcia said: “I’m not going to tell you.” Later asked specifically if he got a warning on the fourth hole, Garcia replied: “Next question, please.”

Garcia’s conduct, and his seeming lack of contrition in the aftermath, continued to be a point of debate after the conclusion of the tournament. Enough so, apparently, for Garcia to feel compelled to offer the Tuesday apology.

Making the question of whether Garcia received a warning more relevant is that the PGA Tour developed a code-of-conduct policy that the Masters had in effect. The PGA Championship will too, and should Garcia receive another a code-of-conduct warning at Aronimink Golf Club, he could be subject to a two-shot penalty. A third violation could mean disqualification.

Garcia has a history of volatile moments on the golf course. At last year’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush, he broke his driver after slamming it into the ground on the second hole in the final round. In 2019, he was disqualified from the Saudi International for damaging greens.

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Sergio Garcia damaged the second tee box Sunday morning during the final round of the Masters, followed by breaking his driver after an errant shot.

The LIV Golf member and 2017 Masters champion made the cut this week at Augusta National, although began the day 16 shots back of co-leaders Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young. His fortunes did not improve early in Round 4, bogeying the first before spraying his drive at the second right. The ball was still in flight when the Spaniard angrily took two swipes at the turf, taking chunks out of the teeing ground in the process.

Garcia then walked to a cooler right of the tee box and swung his driver at it, snapping the head off his club.

The incident is the latest in a career of behavior issues for Garcia, who once was disqualified at the 2019 Saudi International for “serious misconduct” after purposefully damaging several greens the day after having a meltdown in a bunker. Three years later, Garcia signed with the Saudi-backed LIV circuit … weeks after throwing a temper tantum at a rules official at a PGA Tour event.

Garcia is in the field thanks to winning the 2017 Masters. However, Garcia has been irrelevant on the major stages since capturing the green jacket, failing to post a single top 10.

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In an interview with GolfMagic, the 45-year-old, who had been scheduled to return to the event that gave him his first professional win on the DP World Tour (European Tour) back in 1999, confirmed the reason behind his last-minute withdrawal from the event.

“The call with Luke was fine, but not the call I wanted, obviously, but the conversation was fine,” Garcia said.

“Now, the only thing I can do is support the team from home. It’s as simple as that. I’ll be watching and cheering on the European team.”

Spaniard Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm don’t keep their emotions inside – Mike Ehrmann

The 2017 Masters champion, who has slipped to 411th in the Official World Golf Ranking since joining LIV Golf, had been warned by Donald in the lead-up to the picks that Garcia would need to show something at LIV Golf’s season-ending Team Championship in order to have any chance of receiving one of his six picks. The Fireballs GC skipper could only muster a finish in eighth out of the 12 teams. The writing was on the wall for the record Ryder Cup points scorer (28.5).

“I felt like I was so looking forward to being a part of that team, and so I felt like mentally, you know, mentally it was kind of tough,” Garcia told GolfMagic.

“I didn’t want to go there and not be fully engaged in the tournament and stuff, so I just decided to take a little bit of time off and spend it with the family and do a couple of things, you know, some things outside of golf and just kind of reboot a little bit, recharge the batteries.”

Here’s the prize money breakdown for each golfer at the 2025 Amgen Irish Open

Impact on the Irish Open Field

Despite Sergio Garcia now not playing, the field for the 2025 Amgen Irish Open remains as strong as ever. Career Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy, Irish major winners Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry, and European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald are all teeing it up in County Kildare.

They are joined by fellow major champions Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari and Danny Willett, adding further star quality to the Amgen Irish Open field. Recent DP World Tour winners Tyrrell Hatton, Martin Couvra, Eugenio Chacarra, Marco Penge and Danish breakout star Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen will also be in the field at The K Club.

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Moments after earning his best major finish of 2025—T-33, at the time of writing, at the 2025 Open—Sergio Garcia turned his attention to the Ryder Cup under a barrage of questions from the gathered press. Would his three-under 281 performance at Royal Portrush be enough to earn a spot on Luke Donald’s European squad?

In response, he rejected the premise of the question. “I don’t think it’s the last chance, to be totally honest,” he said. “I think there’s still a good amount of weeks left.”

Garcia, who missed the cut at the Masters, finished T-67 at the PGA Championship and failed to qualify for the U.S. Open, will clearly be leaning heavily on a few alternate factors. First, his LIV Golf performance, where he’s currently fifth in the season standings with a victory in Hong Kong earlier in the year.

“Obviously a little bit of a dip after the Masters,” Garcia conceded. “I played nicely in Dallas, I just had a couple of bad finishes in a couple of rounds. Then obviously played very nicely in Valderrama, didn’t really putt well at all and still finished top 10.”

It’s “no secret” that he and Donald have been talking. Along with his finishes on LIV, Garcia’s campaign to make the team relies heavily on experience—the 45-year-old Spaniard has the won most points of any player in the history of the event, accumulating 28½ across 10 previous Ryder Cups. He last played at Whistling Straits in 2021, where he earned three points despite Europe’s blowout loss.

“I think that I can bring things to any team that would probably need it,” he said. “Obviously going into the U.S., going into New York, experience is always good, mostly because you’re still going to have some rookies there, and I think those experienced guys have a great job to do there to make sure that those rookies know what they’re getting into. … At the end of the day, when you’re out there on the course, it’s nice to have one of those experienced guys to put their arm around you and make you feel like don’t worry, I’ve got you, when people are shouting at you and screaming and wishing you all the bad things that you can think of. It’s easy to kind of go get in a little shell and kind of get smaller.”

Garcia cited his own rookie experience with Jesper Parnevik, who he credited for making a difficult situation at Brookline in 1999 much easier.

The elephant in the room is Garcia’s move to LIV Golf. Although the Americans included a LIV player in Brooks Koepka in 2023, thus far no European has been on the team. That will likely change with Garcia’s fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm lined up to be a captain’s pick, which may make the path easier. Regardless, Garcia said Donald has given him assurances that the only criteria he’ll be judged on is what happens on the course, rather than anything political.

“That’s what he’s told me,” Garcia said. “It’s just about how my game is and what I can bring, what I can add to the team, as simple as that.”

His partnership with Rahm may be a boon to his candidacy. The two are good friends and went 3-0 as partners in Whistling Straits. Garcia said he’s been watching YouTube videos of their matches recently, a clear sign that he’s thinking about the possibility, and he said he believes that Rahm wants him on site.

“You would think so,” he said. “Jon and I are good friends … we gel nicely together. Obviously it’s easy to play with Jon because he’s so good.”

Garcia’s success with Jon Rahm in 2021 might help him get the nod from captain Luke Donald for the 2025 European team. Keyur Khamar

Rahm, who finished moments later, seemed to be in favour of the idea.

“It would be quite unique,” he said. “He would be a fantastic guy obviously with his Ryder Cup experience, how he played in the Northeast and actually having played at Bethpage, having played well at Bethpage in the past, so somebody that’s familiar with the golf course. He’s definitely somebody that should be in Luke’s radar.”

To Rahm’s point, Garcia also touted his experience at Bethpage Black, where he finished fourth in 2002 at the U.S. Open, and tied for 10th in 2009.

“It was a long time ago because I haven’t played in a long time,” he said. “We’ll see. It depends. That’s obviously something nice to have. I’ve done really well there pretty much every time I’ve played there, I think.”

What’s clear for Garcia is that he’ll certainly have to rely on Donald for a pick, since his choice to play at LIV now makes it impossible for him to qualify automatically. There are a few months to go, and concluding his remarks, Garcia refused to tip his hand as to what Donald may decide.

“I wish I could have a crystal ball and see the future,” he said, “but unfortunately, I cannot.”

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As it stands, Garcia, Europe’s all-time points leader in the matches, will need to lean on Donald for one of six captain’s picks to make it to Bethpage as the 45-year-old Spaniard sits 174th on the European team standings.

Once the beating heart of the European team, Garcia hasn’t given up on a record-equalling 11th appearance.

“Well, my hopes are to be there,” he told Golf Digest on Wednesday at LIV Golf Andalucia. “I know that I’m part of the equation. So that’s good to know. But I also know that that I need to keep improving my game and keep playing better to make sure that Luke and his vice captains have a good weight behind the decision if they want to take me. So that’s all I can do.”

READ MORE: Reed making his bid for Ryder Cup

It’s not all Garcia could have done. Last week, he made a point of personally meeting up with Donald, who is running it back after steering the Europeans to an emotional home victory at Rome’s Marco Simone in 2023.

“Yeah, we had dinner,” Garcia said.

Asked if Donald gave the 2017 Masters champion a pep talk, as if to say, “Go out there and force me to pick you,” Garcia said that was part of the conversation although not that direct.

“He definitely … he was like, I just want you to get back to playing like you were playing before the [2025] Masters and how consistent you were. I told him that’s what I’m working on,” Garcia said. “[I said] I’ll be ready; I’ll be there when you need me. That’s all I can do. So, let’s see.”

Donald’s observation was in reference to a good run of form Garcia was enjoying globally early in 2025. He finished fourth in the International Series Macau on the Asian Tour before winning the LIV Golf Hong Kong event. He then had a third-place finish at LIV Golf Miami at Doral the week prior to Augusta. Clearly, Donald is keeping tabs on Garcia’s form across all tours.

Donald and Garcia’s history at the Ryder Cup includes being four-ball partners in 2012 at Medinah. Image by Jamie Squire

It has been consistent enough that Garcia earned the newly created entry for LIV Golf’s individual points standings into next week’s British Open at Royal Portrush. Garcia was the top points earner (not already exempt) within the top five on LIV, an avenue the R&A announced in February.

Asked if he felt more emphasis on next week at Royal Portrush, given it might be Garcia’s last tournament with Official World Golf Rankings/Ryder Cup points on offer before the automatic qualifiers are finalized—and before Donald announces his captain’s picks, Garcia said, “No, the motivation … doesn’t [change] for any tournament. There’s always high motivation.”

OK, well then maybe it’s not extra motivation, but certainly some added incentive.

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“We are very excited about Josele joining the team,” said Sergio Garcia, captain of Fireballs GC. “Personally, I have known him (Josele) since he could pick up a golf club and he has worked with my father (Victor) as his coach throughout his golf career. Josele is going to be a great addition not only to the Fireballs but also to the LIV League and I can’t wait to be with him by his side as he makes his professional debut.”

MORE: Former LIV Golfer Chacarra says DP World Tour win has changed his life

Ballester, 21, is currently ranked No. 6 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and brings an impressive amateur resume, highlighted by victories at the 2024 U.S. Amateur, 2023 European Amateur, and 2020 Spanish Amateur. Hailing from Castellón, in the same Spanish province as Sergio Garcia, Ballester continues a proud regional legacy while representing the next wave of Spanish golf talent.

“First and Foremost, I want to thank my family, coaches, friends, and Arizona State University for supporting me and believing in me to make it to this step of my career,” said Josele Ballester. “I am very excited about the opportunity to join Fireballs GC and continue to learn from Sergio and other greats.”

Ballester replaces Luis Masaveu, who will remain in the lineup in Virginia this week, stepping in as a reserve player for David Puig, who is currently sidelined with a back injury sustained during the final round of LIV Golf Korea. Despite the injury, Puig played through the pain to make the cut at last month’s PGA Championship.

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It was an impressive run for Sergio Garcia, but after competing in each of the last 25 straight U.S. Opens, his streak has ended. Garcia bogeyed his 36th hole of the day Monday during U.S. Open qualifying at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas and it pushed him one shot short of being in a large playoff for the final spot. He shot 65-71 to end at six-under total.

Garcia, 45, lost in a playoff last year to advance to Pinehurst No. 2 but ultimately got into the field as an alternate. He then tied for 12th place in North Carolina and has posted five top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open during his career. His best finish was a third-place tie in 2005, also at Pinehurst, where he was five shots behind Michael Campbell. His last top-10 finish in a major, oddly enough, came at the 2017 Masters, which he won.

Last week, Garcia tied for 67th place at the PGA Championship. It was there where he lamented his poor form, telling reporters that he needed to play better in order to be in the mix for a Ryder Cup pick in September at Bethpage Black.

“Obviously the way I’m playing, even if Luke [Donald] offered me a pick right now, I would tell him no,” Garcia said Sunday after the final round at Quail Hollow. “So obviously I need to get better. I need to get more where I was just before the Masters. You know, just show myself and show everyone that my game is solid, and it can help the Team Europe. It’s as simple as that.”

Garcia has 11 PGA Tour titles, 16 European Tour wins and two LIV Golf victories, including one in March in Hong Kong. He is fourth in the league’s season-long individual standings.

Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard Petersen was the medalist in Dallas after shooting 66-65 for an 11-under total and will be at Oakmont June 12-15 in Pennsylvania. James Hahn and Adam Schenk tied for second place. Hahn, 43, is a two-time PGA Tour winner but hasn’t played in a major since the 2018 PGA Championship. Schenk will play in his fourth consecutive U.S. Open, having missed the cut each of the last two years.

Some of the notables who missed out on qualifying in Texas were Alejandro Tosti, Peter Malnati, Cameron Champ, Austin Eckroat, Caleb Surratt, Charley Hoffman, Abe Ancer, Kevin Chappell, Joel Dahmen, Pierceson Coody and Talor Gooch.

Edoardo Molinari, Luke Donald’s vice captain for the 2023 and 2025 Ryder Cups, qualified for the U.S. Open in England – Richard Heathcote

There were qualifiers in England and Japan too.

At Walton Heath Golf Club in England, Englishman Jordan Smith was the medalist as eight players, including Edoardo Molinari, snagged the last spot in a playoff. The 44-year-old from Italy was a vice captain for Luke Donald in the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome and will be again this year in New York. He qualified for the U.S. Open last year and was thrilled to do so again for Oakmont.

“It feels fantastic,” Molinari said. “When you get to my age you have to relish the opportunity. I’m really looking forward to it.

“It’s a proper U.S. Open test. I’m keen to go there and see what I can do.”

Molinari’s brother, Francesco, the 2018 British Open champion, was among those who did not qualify. Adrian Meronk, Sam Horsfield, Alex Fitzpatrick and Haotong Li were others who did not advance.

Yuta Sugiura, Scott Vincent and Jinichiro Kozuma advanced in the qualifier at Tarao Country Club in Japan. Vincent played the last two full seasons with LIV Golf but found himself in the Drop Zone last year. He’s played mostly in the Asian Tour’s International Series this year. Kozuma also played last season on LIV Golf and has only played in the last two events with the league this year.

Ryo Ishikawa is among the notables to have missed out on advancing to the U.S. Open from the Japan site.

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The Ryder Cup legend is the event’s all-time points leader. And he’s eligible again to play for Europe after rejoining the DP World Tour earlier this year. However, he’s not thrilled with his form right now following the PGA Championship.

“It is there if I play better,” Garcia said on Sunday when asked about playing in September’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. “Obviously the way I’m playing, even if Luke [Donald] offered me a pick right now, I would tell him no. So obviously I need to get better. I need to get more where I was just before the Masters. You know, just show myself and show everyone that my game is solid, and it can help the Team Europe. It’s as simple as that.”

Garcia shot a Sunday 69 at Quail Hollow, but still finished near the bottom of those qualifying for the weekend thanks to a Saturday 79.

Ahead of the Masters, Garcia had a win and a third-place finish in four LIV starts this year. But he missed the cut at Augusta National and has finished 50th and T-42 in his two LIV starts since.

Still, it seems like a pretty wild claim that Garcia would turn down a captain’s pick given how much he loves the Ryder Cup. In 2023 he even made a reported last-ditch effort—which was ultimately rejected—to pay off his fines for leaving the DP World Tour for LIV in order to play for Team Europe.

“The good thing is that there’s still, you know, two or three months until the team is finalized,” said Garcia, who will try to earn a spot in the U.S. Open by playing in Final Qualifying in Texas on Monday. “So you know, I’ll have time to gain some confidence and improve a little bit on my game.”

The 45-year-old Spaniard has played in 10 Ryder Cups, helping Europe to win six times.

Brooks Koepka became the first LIV golfer to play in a Ryder Cup when he was a captain’s pick for Team USA in 2023. Both Donald and current U.S. captain Keegan Bradley have said they intend to field the best possible teams, regardless of a player’s primary tour.

The 2025 Ryder Cup will be held at Bethpage Black September 26-28.

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Nevertheless, Garcia was vintage as he dissected the Hong Kong Golf Club, thumping stingers from many of the tees with his trusty driving iron during a three-shot victory Sunday. It was the Spaniard’s second title on the league after capturing a maiden win at his beloved Valderrama last year in his homeland.

Hong Kong Golf Club, a 136-year-old course, was always going to reward a plodder and a ball-striker as prolific as Garcia. With its narrow, tree-lined layout and relatively modest total yardage, it played 755 yards shorter than this week’s PGA Tour host Bay Hill.

Garica wound back the clock with a stunning seven-under 63 on the third and final day of LIV Golf Hong Kong, the third event of LIV’s 2025 season. An eagle at the par-5 third jumpstarted Garcia’s final round charge but it was four consecutive birdies from the eighth hole that allowed the 45-year-old to grab the tournament by the scruff of the neck.

The 2017 Masters champion then put the tournament to bed at the tricky, par-4 16th when he struck a beautiful wedge from the fairway to 15 feet and drained the birdie. A hole later, Garcia two-putted the 18th to finish at 18-under-par total for the week. He captured the $4 million individual title, while helping his Fireballs franchise to a win in the teams component.

.@TheSergioGarcia claims his second individual win

An unbelievable Sunday from the Spaniard #LIVGolfHongKong @fireballsgc_ pic.twitter.com/3zLGCZBcyx

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) March 9, 2025

“Yeah, it was great,” Garcia said. “I knew I had to play well. My goal starting the day was to shoot five under, which was going to help me and the team. I didn’t hit the best tee shot on 18 [and was blocked on the right by trees], but I knew that [as a team the Fireballs] were tied or one ahead, so I wasn’t going to lay up. I hit a beautiful 4-iron and then a great [two-] putt.”

South African Dean Burmester was runner up to Garcia at 15 under, while Mickelson found form in Hong Kong to finish outright third at 14 under. Dustin Johnson finished last in the field, in 54th place, at one over par for the week. In the teams competition, the Fireballs earned a one-shot win over Stinger GC while Cam Smith’s Ripper GC and Mickelson’s HyFlyers shared third.

Mickelson, who shot three rounds in the 60s at a tight driving course, said he was playing “a different style” that was inspiring confidence with the Masters only a little more than 30 days away.

“I had a great off-season; I figured some things out and I’m playing a different style of golf,” three-time Masters champ Mickelson said. “I’m hitting a lot of good shots. This is a building week as I continue to [chase] my goal of a win on LIV as well as winning another major and getting ready for Augusta.”

Eurasia Sport Images

Garcia was also asked about the Masters, which will be his 100th career major championship start. But he avoided suggestions this LIV win was any indication he could make another run at Augusta National. Instead, Garcia said that “whatever happens,” he’ll soak up the milestone having debuted at the majors as an amateur at the 1996 Open Championship.

“Yeah, I’m super excited about it; it’s a milestone not a lot of people get to achieve,” Garcia said. “I’m super proud, super happy, and I can’t wait to go [to Augusta] and just enjoy it. Whatever happens, happens. I’m just going to try to enjoy the week as much as possible. And hopefully my game will show up.”

One thing Garcia could be drawn into was stating his case for a captain’s pick from Luke Donald for the European team at this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage. While a longshot, particularly given LIV doesn’t offer Ryder Cup European points or Official World Golf Ranking points, Garcia is the all-time leading points scorer four Europe and wouldn’t be the most controversial captain’s pick in the history of the event.

“We’ve been in touch,” Garcia said of Donald. “I know that he’s keeping an eye [on me]. And the only thing I can do is just keep playing good golf. I just want to help the European team like I try to do every single time I’m part of [or a] member of that team. Hopefully he will think I’m good enough for it.”

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