On Wednesday, the day before the 2026 Masters kicked off, 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia was asked if there are any holes or shots at Augusta National Golf Club where he really has to dial in his mental preparation.
“Yeah, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18,” Garcia said. “This course tests you every single hole. When it’s windy the wind switches and it’s really, really tricky. It’s testing you every single hole.”
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The par-5 2nd tested Garcia on Sunday.
Garcia opened the week with rounds of 72, 75 and 74, and he started his final round in the third pairing of the day. Garcia bogeyed the first hole and drove his tee shot on the 2nd into the fairway bunker.
Furious, he took two hefty swipes at the ground, knocking over his tee with the first and taking a large divot out of the teeing area on the second.
But he wasn’t through. For his final act, he smashed his driver against the bottom of the water cooler, snapping the shaft a few inches above the club head. (For some reason that remains unclear, he also carried the bag of his playing partner, Jon Rahm, down the 2nd fairway.) Garcia made par but bogeyed the next two holes. Livestream coverage later showed workers fixing the tee box.
AP sportswriter Doug Ferguson reported that Geoff Yang, the chairman of the competition committee, spoke to Garcia on the 4th hole and gave him a code of conduct warning.
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Garcia, 46, has just one top 10 in five LIV Golf starts this season, and in his seven Masters start since his win, he’s missed the cut six times. On Monday, prior to his comments about the testy nature of holes 1 through 18, he said he was “not super happy” with his game but working on it. “We’ll see what happens throughout the week,” he said. “Yeah, at the moment I’m not feeling amazing.”
On Wednesday, he added that it’s “always exciting” to come back to Augusta and also that “you hope that you play well, but unfortunately doesn’t happen every time.”
After his first round on Thursday, he said he hit some good shots but also some terrible ones.
“I’m not going to lie — I would have taken 72 before I started the round the way I’ve been playing,” he said.
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“It’s tough, but this is the way we want Augusta to play,” he added later. “Don’t get me wrong. This the way it’s meant to be played. It’s not meant to be easy. You know, obviously Augusta is always difficult with the wind because it just switches constantly, and you have to be so precise with every single shot you hit that it makes it even more difficult. Then when the greens get fast and firm like they are now, it’s just a test, but it’s the way it’s supposed to play.”
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