Sergio Garcia took a giant leap towards becoming the most hated man in world golf on the weekend after a mid-tournament disappearing act at the flagship event of the DP World Tour.
A legal decision in the UK allowed Garcia and 17 other LIV Golf members to play in the $A11.7 million BMW PGA Championship outside London despite the DP World Tour’s wishes.
Spots were at a premium but Garcia took up his and, after an opening round shocker of four-over, the Spaniard withdrew.
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Given he had already started the tournament, he could not be replaced by a reserve.
The first reserve was Garcia’s compatriot and Jon Rahm’s good friend Alfredo García-Heredia.
Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir reported: “Jon Rahm told me on Tuesday it was particularly personal for him that certain players were in the field this week as his good friend Alfredo García-Heredia was first reserve.
“Had Sergio García withdrawn before his opening round rather than after it, AGH would have played.”
While any player is entitled to withdraw from an event, it’s the circumstances around Garcia’s exit that raised eyebrows.
For starters, the former Masters winner gave no reason why he decided to withdraw after one round.
Garcia had completed his first 18 holes before news broke of Queen Elizabeth II’s death and all play at Wentworth was suspended.
Play on Friday was then called off altogether as a mark of respect, while the tournament reduced to 54-holes.
Garcia pulled out after 18.
Hours later he was happily posing for photos on the touchline of a Texas-Alabama college football game in Austin.
Garcia appearing at a college football game about 8,000 kilometres away drew the ire of many in the golf world, with outrage spilling over given the Spaniard’s perceived mistreatment of the tour that made him a star.
The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News golf writer Martin Dempster wrote: “Sergio Garcia showed utter contempt to the DP World Tour players by posing for a photo at US college football game after withdrawing from the BMW PGA Championship following the opening round.
“How can someone who was a legend in European golf lose all respect for being so utterly selfish!”
Meanwhile, Golf WRX writer Matt Vincenzi wrote: “Disappointed in Sergio Garcia this week. Had a chance to go out and prove he’s still a competitor. Instead he played terribly then quit. Pathetic.”
Garcia has already been seen as one of golf’s most villainous characters after several acts of petulance over the years.
Some of the most notable include spitting into a hole, throwing a shoe into a crowd, flipping off galleries and getting disqualified for damaging five greens in a temper tantrum.
More recently, he was angered by officials on the PGA Tour over a ruling, and was heard saying: “I can’t wait to leave this tour. I can’t wait to get out of here … ”
He was then among the first group of players to join Saudi-backed breakaway LIV Golf in June.
USA Today columnist Eamon Lynch penned a scathing column about Garcia after his BMW PGA Championship withdrawal, saying he’s only grown more unprofessional in his playing career, and is guilty of “d**kish behaviour”.
“Garcia’s professed support of the DP World Tour has never been much in evidence at its flagship event, where he has appeared only twice in the past 22 years. On his last showing, in 2014, he quit after one round. If nothing else, this week indicated how little he has changed in the intervening years,” Lynch wrote.
“LIV expects its infantrymen to present themselves at every significant event for which they are eligible — to normalise its existence, to grab world ranking points, and to otherwise disrupt the status quo. And LIV doesn’t own a man more infantile than Garcia.
“It’s futile to wonder if Garcia’s reputation among his peers will be hurt by this latest unprofessionalism since one cannot further diminish that which has already been rendered fecal.”
