A second-hole meltdown left his driver in tatters, and left 2017 Masters champion Garcia on the receiving end of a code of conduct warning.
Garcia allowed that it was frustration bubbling over from his season -- where his Fireballs have struggled to find success, ranking eighth of 13 in the LIV Golf standings -- not the event by itself.
"Just obviously not super proud of it, but sometimes it happens," Garcia said.
Having already absorbed a bogey on his first hole -- the first of five on the day -- Garcia lined up for his tee shot on No. 2, found the shot not to his liking as it made a beeline for the fairway bunker and promptly took two heavy swings at the turf in frustration.
Apparently not content until his driver had lost its head completely, Garcia swung the blunted instrument into a cooling stand a few moments later, then snapped the dangling head of the damaged driver off himself shortly after that.
Funnily enough, the par-5 second ended up being the only hole of Garcia's first four in which he managed par, settling again for bogeys on the third and fourth.
On that fourth, Garcia was approached by Augusta National competition committee chairman, Geoff Yang, who issued him a code of conduct warning.
Asked about what Yang had said, Garcia responded, "I'm not going to tell you."
Garcia ultimately finished with the third-highest score among players to make the cut, as his 3-over-par 75 left him at 8 over for the tournament.
"Well, if you don't hit good shots, you're not going to score well here," Garcia said. "It's very simple."
As frustrating as it might have been to Garcia as a former Masters champion, his finish was still in keeping with his recent performances at Augusta.
Garcia has missed the cut in six of the eight Masters he has participated in since he donned the green jacket and his best finish in that span was a tie for 23rd in 2022.
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