For a player who was once adored by the crowds at the Open Championship, a Ryder Cup legend who so nearly won the Claret Jug on multiple occasions, Sergio Garcia’s drift into irrelevance has been a sad sight.
Having made the decision to take the money and join LIV Golf from its inception in 2022, Garcia’s bank balance may be bursting at the seams but his decline has been undeniable.
Compare that to Justin Rose. Only six months younger than Garcia, Rose still regularly contends to win majors deep into his mid-40s. The Spaniard, meanwhile, relies on exemptions just to be able to play at all.
And yet, despite all of that, Garcia still featured in the final-round coverage last Sunday at Royal Portrush – albeit for the wrong reasons.
A wayward tee shot on the second saw the red mist descend to match Garcia’s shirt. He angrily swiped his driver and slammed the clubhead into the ground, duly snapping it in two.
To his credit, he still went on to shoot 68 despite having to play the rest of his round without a driver, but it was still a deeply unedifying moment for a man who was once so popular.
Tyrrell Hatton has become one of the poster boys for bad behaviour on the golf course, including this meltdown at last month’s US Open
The red mist descended and matched the colour of Sergio Garcia’s shirt during final round of The Open at Portrush
Even Bob MacIntyre let himself down with occasional shows of petulance at Portrush
It was also the latest in a growing list of such incidents. Whether it’s fury on the fairways, tee-box tantrums, or blow-ups in the bunkers, these meltdowns are becoming a stain on the sport.
We live in an age where these moments of rage are clipped and then shared on social media. They are trivialised and turned into moments of humour when they ought to be a source of embarrassment.
At the US Open last month, pictures were shared online of the damage Wyndham Clark had caused to the locker room at Oakmont.
Breaking a club is one thing, but destroying property that is not your own is a whole different level of arrogance and self-entitlement. Clark has since apologised but Oakmont have suspended him.
He is banned from setting foot on the property and they will not reconsider that stance until he has repaid the damages in full and undertaken anger-management sessions.
At the very same tournament, Rory McIlroy, the most globally-popular player in the game, was throwing clubs around and smashing a tee box at Oakmont.
Rory McIlroy smashed a tee box during the US Open at Oakmont last month
Tyrrell Hatton reacts with fury after a poor shot at the Dubai Desert Classic in January
The damage allegedly caused to a locker room at Oakmont last month by an enraged Wyndham Clark
Wyndham Clark has since been banned by Oakmost until he repairs the damage and takes anger-management course
At a LIV Golf event in Dallas last month, five-time major champion Brooks Koepka smashed a tee box directly into a crowd of fans who were positioned only a few yards away. Fortunately, it didn’t hit anyone.
Tyrrell Hatton is in a league of his own with this stuff. At this year’s USPGA Championship, the foul-mouthed Englishman was heard ranting and branding his driver a ‘piece of s*** c***’.
Only last season, during the DP World Tour Championship, another Hatton meltdown saw him snap a club in two.
That led to Ewen Murray, the venerable voice of golf on Sky Sports, describing Hatton as ‘a terrible influence on the next generation’. It’s almost at the point now where it feels like Hatton has become a caricature of himself.
Bob MacIntyre doesn’t get a pass here either. For all we celebrate the Scot as a world-class talent, which he undoubtedly is, he still lets himself down at times with ill-tempered outbursts.
In the third round at Portrush last weekend, MacIntyre was throwing clubs around and lashing out by taking a swipe at his own golf bag.
All of this came just a few days after MacIntyre had explained how he still ‘loses the plot’ and ‘breaks things’ when things aren’t going his way on the golf course.
It does make you wonder what sort of example all of this sets for young kids.
Sure, it should also be said that MacIntyre does more than most in terms of devoting his time to the next generation. Watching him at the Scottish Open recently, no player spent more time signing all kinds of hats, gloves and balls after his rounds. In that respect, he is a credit to himself.
In terms of these outbursts on the course, however, he is not playing in the monthly medal at Glencruitten any more. The eyes of the world are watching him and he should learn to behave appropriately.
Garcia, pictured during his final round at Portrush, had earlier snapped his driver in two after a wayward tee shot
If any amateur golfer were to go around snapping clubs, smashing tee boxes, or having a swipe at their bag, they would be hauled up in front of the club committee and asked to explain themselves.
Golf prides itself on etiquette. From a young age, we are taught to show respect, to replace divots, repair pitchmarks, rake bunkers, always shout fore when appropriate, always shake hands after a round – and never to throw clubs.
MacIntyre was praised a few years ago when he collared his playing partner Kyle Stanley for failing to shout fore. He was absolutely right to do so.
That was based on values, etiquette, and doing the right thing. Throwing clubs around should fall under the same bracket.
These things matter. Pros shouldn’t be treated any differently. Their petulance is not something to be celebrated or trivialised.
For example, the DP World Tour put out a video a couple of years ago branded: ‘Tyrrell Hatton, the angry golfer’. It featured all of his many tantrums and meltdowns over the years and was clearly intended to be funny.
It was a poor reflection on the sport that the game’s authorities were not only failing to discourage his behaviour, but were actively promoting it in some instances.
As a sport, golf can make you angry. We all know that. At the last estimation, a solid 90 per cent of all golfers admitted to the odd sweary word here and there, while the other 10 per cent were liars.
But for those frustrations to boil over into something more physical is the point where a line is being crossed. It should not be normalised and it is certainly not acceptable.
Scottie is earning his stripes but he’s still no Tiger
Scottie Scheffler has been the most dominant player on the planet these past couple of years, with his brilliance setting the bar for everyone else.
But comparisons with Tiger Woods are still premature and wide of the mark.
Woods transcended the sport. He redefined golf. He could win a tournament by six shots and it would still feel exciting. He was box-office entertainment.
Scheffler, by contrast, doesn’t have the same level of appeal. As a character and personality, he lacks charisma and star quality.
Scheffler celebrates his runaway victory at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland last weekend
But he lacks the charisma of his legendary predecessor and fellow American Tiger Woods
His comments last week about how the joy of winning lasts no more than a few minutes came across as insincere and did him no favours in terms of winning new fans.
That’s not to downplay the quality of golf he is producing. But to put him in the same bracket as Woods still feels like a bit of a stretch.
Scheffler has profited from so many of his closest competitors defecting to LIV Golf. That’s not his fault, of course, but the fields on the PGA Tour are now undoubtedly weaker than three or four years ago.
To win four majors before the age of 30 takes some doing. But it should also be noted that Jordan Spieth had won three by the age of 23 and hasn’t won any more since his triumph at Royal Birkdale in 2017.
Back then, everyone was falling over themselves to make the same comparisons between Spieth and Woods.
As the younger American would now testify, golf has a habit of getting away from you when you least it expect it.
Tiger very much remains in a league of his own.
Taylor’s meteoric rise outshone his fall from grace
Josh Taylor will go down as one of the all-time greats. Not only in Scotland, but as one of the best British boxers there’s ever been.
His rise to become an undisputed world champion at light-welterweight – cleaning out the division against top-level opponents – remains one of the great feats by any British fighter.
Josh Taylor was an unstoppable champion when the Scottish fighter was at his peak
Taylor had no easy nights either He was relentlessly going up against the very best of the best. In the end, it burnt him out. He had nothing left to give.
As written in these pages after his defeat to Ekow Essuman in May, there comes a point in every elite fighter’s career when it becomes impossible to reconcile the desire to carry on with the reality of what is unfolding in the ring.
Taylor’s run of defeats and his fall from grace over the past couple of years was sad to see, but it shouldn’t diminish what an outstanding talent he was in his prime.
