Sergio Garcia snaps driver in half — and finishes British Open without one

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Sergio Garcia, at age 45 and playing on LIV Golf, has been happy to have qualified for the British Open.

That joy, however, turned to rage early in his final round Sunday when he snapped his driver in half, smashing it to the turf after hitting an errant tee shot on the second hole.

The Spaniard missed the fairway left on the par-5 second hole and pounded his driver on the ground, breaking it at the shaft.

Garcia, who ironically birdied the second hole, was forced to play the rest of his final round without a driver, because the rules of golf state that you cannot replace a club that was broken in anger.

Rule 4.1 states: “A player is allowed to keep using and/or to repair any club damaged during the round, no matter what the damage and even if the player damaged it in anger.

“A player is not allowed to replace a damaged club, except when it is damaged during the round by an outside influence or natural forces, or by someone other than the player or his or her caddie.”

“The last two or three months have been really tough the way I’ve played, and I controlled myself very, very well,” Garcia said afterward. “To be honest, I didn’t feel like I did that much on the second tee. Obviously, I didn’t hit a good drive. I didn’t smack it straight down. I kind of like swiped it back. I’ve done that 50 times, and I’ve never broken a club.

“The shaft just snapped in half, and I was surprised. I wasn’t trying to break it, and I was actually surprised when I saw that. 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.”

Garcia went on to shoot his best round of the week, a 3-under-par 68, and finished the week 3-under for the tournament. He was in need of a strong finish to show European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald that he’s worthy of a captain’s pick.

Garcia missed the cut at the Masters before finishing tied for 67th at the PGA Championship. He failed to qualify for the U.S. Open.

“I had a good conversation with Luke last week, and we both know what we want,” Garcia said. “The only thing I can do is keep working hard, keep building my confidence up, and if I’m able to do that, then it should be fine. We’ll see.

“It would mean the world to me to be there,” he went on. “If I can help the team, that’s my main goal. I think that I can bring things to the team. At the end of the day, he’s going to make whatever he thinks is the best decision for him and his team, so we’ll see.”

Garcia said he believes the Open wasn’t his “last chance” to prove himself to Donald, saying, “There’s still a good amount of weeks left. I’ve got to try to play the best I can, and then we’ll see what happens. This week, I felt like my game was on and off a little bit.”

Garcia said he’s been assured by Donald that the decision will be only golf related and not political, with LIV Golf being a deterrent.

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

“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.”