Garcia shrugs off Masters meltdown

Sergio Garcia insists his disastrous Masters defence will not derail his form for the rest of the season.

The Spanish star captured his first and only major at Augusta in 2017 but missed the cut in this year’s edition of the tournament.

Garcia’s defence effectively came to an end on the 15th hole in the opening round as he took 13 shots to play the par five.

The 38-year-old recorded the highest score on the hole in the history of the tournament but Garcia says he will not allow his confidence to be impacted by his struggles at Augusta National.

“Probably as soon as we finished on Friday afternoon it was pretty much forgotten,” Garcia said when asked about the incident.

“You’ve got to realise that sometimes it happens, sometimes it goes the wrong way, and without doing much wrong it can happen. But you learn from it and you move forward and try to be better.”

When asked if it represented the lowest point in his career, he said: “No, no, not really. Maybe if that would have happened on Sunday last year after hitting my shot, if it hits the pin dead on and goes in the water, it probably would have been harder.”

Garcia is due to begin his first round at the Valero Texas Open on Thursday.