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Watch Sergio Garcia "almost screw up" his British Open by hitting a gorse bush in frustration
SOUTHPORT, England -- The Year of Sergio Garcia took an unusual, um, twist on Friday at the 146th British Open. The Spaniard took out his frustration on a gorse bush at Royal Birkdale, and predictably, it didn't go well.
Golf fans got fescue overload during the U.S. Open at Erin Hills, but gorse never seems to get its proper due when it comes to on-course shrubbery. It's thick. It's prickly. And when I brushed my hand up against some by mistake the other day, I half expected to look down and see myself gushing with blood.
Thankfully, though, I was OK. And it appears Garcia is as well, although Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner reported he received some treatment shortly after. Garcia bogeyed the fourth hole, but bounced back with this eagle on No. 5:
And Garcia has made all pars since. Again, the most important thing is his health. Yeah, yeah, he's got this tournament, but he's also getting married next week so we're pretty sure his fiancee, Angela Akins, would be pretty ticked if Sergio showed up to the wedding with his arm in a sling. After all, Garcia wasn't hitting out of a gorse bush, but rather, hitting one. It's a mistake in judgement we can all learn from.
UPDATE: Garcia shot a one-under-par 69 to move to two over, meaning he'll stick around for the weekend. As for his shoulder, here's what he said after his round:
"Well, it feels better than it felt when I did it. Obviously it took a good amount of pills to make it feel better and a little bit of treatment. And it's warm at the moment. So I want to see how it feels tonight. But I'm going to go to the physio track and make sure I get some work on it because it still feels a little bit sore around it. So we'll see. Hopefully it will be fine."
And yes, he knows what he did was dumb.
"I mean, obviously I am not happy about it because I almost screwed up my British Open," Garcia said. "Fortunately for me, I didn't. But obviously it's not what you want to do. But sometimes you're out there and you're trying your hardest, and when you can't do it, it gets a little frustrating. We've all had those moments."