Sergio Garc\u00eda<\/a> to MacIntyre on day four. The Spaniard had only reached the 2nd tee when the finding of a bunker triggered an outburst. Garc\u00eda slammed the grass twice in anger \u2013 it had to be repaired by Masters greenkeepers before whacking his driver against a water cooler. The club snapped, meaning Garc\u00eda had to play his remaining 16 holes without it.<\/p>\nSuch tantrums do not sit at all well with those at the most prestigious club in the United States. Garc\u00eda was spoken to by a Masters official on the 4th hole. Under Augusta\u2019s new approach, a warning is followed by a two-shot penalty and subsequent disqualification if any player is silly enough to lose the plot three times.<\/p>\n
Yet if Augusta was looking for remorse from Garc\u00eda, it did not really arrive. \u201cJust obviously not super-proud of it, but sometimes it happens,\u201d he said. Garc\u00eda reflected on frustrations \u201cthroughout the year\u201d rather than only in this major. \u201cIt\u2019s fine, it\u2019s what it is,\u201d Garc\u00eda added. \u201cYou\u2019ve just got to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding to a comedic scene was the image of Garc\u00eda carrying the bag of his playing partner, Jon Rahm, elsewhere on the 2nd. \u201cAdam [Hayes, Rahm\u2019s caddie] stopped to rake my bunker,\u201d Garc\u00eda explained. \u201cBenji, my caddie, was carrying both bags so I told him: \u2018Just put it down, I\u2019ll get it so you can go and get a yardage.\u2019 Just as simple as that.\u201d This had been a light moment that Garc\u00eda managed to describe in a tone which implied a death was involved.<\/p>\n
Sergio Garc\u00eda after breaking a club in the final round of the Masters. Photograph: Sky Sports<\/p>\n
Garc\u00eda was asked about the content of his conversation on the 4th. \u201cI\u2019m not going to tell you,\u201d he said. Pressed further on the same situation, he replied: \u201cNext question, please.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garc\u00eda\u2019s relationship with Augusta is a complicated one. He was an audible critic of the venue in the early stages of his career but won his solitary major here amid emotional scenes in 2017. It is the ending of that drought that renders subsequent events \u2013 including in this tournament \u2013 so strange. Garc\u00eda should be at peace with the Masters by now.<\/p>\n
Instead, he must fear his career is in inexorable decline at the age of 46. Since that Augusta triumph nine years ago he is without a major top 10. He has made just two Masters cuts, including this one, where he finished on the lower regions of theleaderboard at eight over par.<\/p>\n
In keeping with his dark mood \u2013 the golfer looked as if he would rather be at the dentist \u2013 Garc\u00eda was unwilling to expand on the cause of his post-2017 Masters struggles. \u201cBad golf,\u201d he said. \u201cBad shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t hit good shots, you\u2019re not going to score well here. It\u2019s very simple. Unfortunately a lot of bad shots.\u201d It feels a shame to see Garc\u00eda, one of the standout players of his generation, in this state.<\/p>\n
Rahm expressed sympathy for his compatriot. \u201cObviously he hasn\u2019t been swinging it the way he would like,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the easiest day for him so there is not much I can say. I talked to him when I could to lift his spirits up a little bit. But it felt like I was exactly where he was at today the last few days so I can\u2019t really say much.\u201d Indeed, Rahm\u2019s aggregate plus one finish was curious.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely some things I\u2019m going change,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cPreparation-wise and what to do. But it\u2019s hard to say how much I learned because I don\u2019t think we ever seen a Masters this firm and I don\u2019t know how long it is going to be until we do again. Off the tee and on the greens.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you ever seen looking down the property how yellow the patron areas and how brown and purple parts of the greens and fairways are? It will be a long time until we see it like this. Definitely have some things in mind for future editions where it gets to this level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keegan Bradley signed off with an excellent 66 for a three-under-par total. Viktor Hovland\u2019s 67 ensured the Norwegian closed at minus four just as the leading groups set out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A winner on day four of the Masters was not even part of the remaining field. Robert MacIntyre,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-388827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}