Days before Sergio Garcia makes his 2019 PGA Tour debut at the Genesis Open near Los Angeles, the Spaniard issued a second apology for his behavior at the European Tour's Saudi International.
Garcia was disqualified from the tournament when officials determines Garcia intentionally damaged as many as five greens on host Royal Greens Golf and Country Club during Saturday's third round. The European Tour issued an apology statement from Garcia, in which he said he damaged "a couple" of greens and had apologized to his peers. He vowed not to repeat the behavior. In Friday's second round, Garcia went apoplectic in a bunker, repeatedly smashing his wedge into the sand and cursing tournament caddies in Spanish because a perceived poor rake job led to a lousy lie in a bunker.
After some additional time to reflect on what happened in Saudi Arabia, Garcia took to Instagram to offer a further mea culpa.
Posting the statement in English and Spanish, Garcia said, "I’ve obviously had some time to reflect, and want to again say I’m sorry to my fans and fellow competitors. What happened is not an example I want to set, and it's not who I truly am. I am an emotional player and while I believe that's one of my biggest strengths, it's also one of my biggest flaws. I’m focused on working hard to channel that emotion the correct way and to be the best me, learn from it and move forward. Thanks for all the support."
Garcia received no further punitive action from the European Tour for his actions.
This week at Riviera Country Club, a place where he's finished T-4 twice in his PGA Tour career, marks Garcia's first PGA Tour start since the Wyndham Championship last August. Garcia failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time in his career by not finishing inside the top 125 in regular season FedEx Cup points. However, Garcia is working off a five-year exemption for winning the Masters in 2017.
