Hours before Rory McIlroy won his second straight Masters, the talk of Augusta National on Sunday morning was all about Sergio Garcia’s box and clubbing.
When asked about these pranks, Max Homa said that it looks bad on professional golfers but he also admitted that it is a game that can arouse those feelings.
“I don’t like it when people break clubs. I don’t like it when people hit the golf course because we deal with it, and I think breaking clubs makes us look very, very spoiled,” Homa said during a press conference Wednesday at RBC Heritage in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, as he discussed the topic without mentioning Garcia by name.
“… So I don’t know where to draw that line exactly, but I certainly think that hitting the golf course would probably be higher just because we all have to play it. But yeah, that’s a hard thing to manage or decide on because it’s so subjective. If I do something when nobody’s watching on TV, that gets a much lower grade than when everybody knows you’re in front of it.”
Garcia was issued a code of conduct on Sunday for his actions. Following the shot at No. 2 sitting in the basement, Garcia hit his driver on the floor, causing damage, before crashing his driver into the cooler and ripping his head off the club. Under the Rules of Golf, Garcia was not allowed to change his driver as it was damaged due to abuse.
“[I’ve been frustrated] all year,” Garcia, who finished 52nd out of 54 golfers to make the Masters cut, after his final round. “Of course, he’s not proud of it, but sometimes it happens.”
Garcia issued an apology on social media on Tuesday, expressing “regret” for his actions.
On the other hand, Homa admitted his failure with bad language and throwing sticks out of frustration; that includes being caught swinging a club down the fairway during last year’s PGA Championship.
“I say a lot of bad words. I try very hard not to do it when the child hears,” said Homa. “So I think there’s, hey, you can say it in front of the wrong person, like being a little more aware of your place. You can say I’ve never done it.”
He admitted that swinging his clubs with others or hitting the tee box “looks bad” but that sometimes he may be playing a frustrating game.
The PGA Tour has been developing a code of conduct policy for tournaments, and the Masters was the first tournament to implement it, a person involved in the process told The Associated Press on Sunday. Some majors may implement the policy — which extends to ejections for third infractions — this year.
“It’s not a bad thing to have that conversation. That’s good,” said Homa, who tied for ninth at the Masters for his third top-12 finish there. “Between that and the speed stuff, there are things we can deal with, and we can wait until we get it and use it, but at least the conversation is going that way.
“We want to inspire the next generation to be better than us, so we need to be held to a high standard.”
