The Loop
Nick Faldo imitates Sergio Garcia's temper tantrum, continues longtime rift between two
Nick Faldo became the latest golfer to weigh in on Sergio Garcia's recent temper tantrum in Saudi Arabia. But there was a key difference between Sir Nick's reaction. He relied mainly on actions instead of words.
Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show from Pebble Beach, where Faldo is part of this week's AT&T Pro-Am TV coverage, the six-time major champ imitated Garcia's bunker meltdown that was caught on camera. And it was a pretty good effort as he smashed one of the show's props. Check it out beginning at the 1:28 mark:
Faldo refers to a previous imitation of Rory McIlroy tossing a club into a lake before doing his Sergio impression. That prompts Patrick to ask, "Have you ever had one of those moments?"
"We've killed an odd snake in the bunker," Faldo jokes, "But he looked more like one of those turtles, you know, laying eggs on the beach in Madagascar or the Galapagos Islands."
Most others, including Brooks Koepka, have simply said Garcia needs to grow up. So we appreciate the CBS analyst really digging deep for a different perspective on the incident.
Of course, Garcia's outburst was no laughing matter. In addition to him taking some extra hacks and swipes in a bunker, he also purposely damaged as many as five greens during the third round of last week's Saudi International and was disqualified under a new rule for "serious misconduct." However, the European Tour has indicated the Spaniard will receive no further punishment.
Back to Faldo, while imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, that is certainly NOT the case here. During the 2014 Ryder Cup, Faldo said Garcia was "useless" during the 2008 Ryder Cup when Faldo was captain. And after Garcia broke Faldo's European record for points in the event, Garcia offered the following barb: "I have passed some of my heroes today—and Nick Faldo."
The next time Sergio plays well enough to get invited up to the CBS booth should be very interesting.