Report: Sergio Garcia To Avoid European Tour Ban

The Spaniard will likely avoid a tournament ban or further punishment after being DQ'd from the Saudi International for serious misconduct

Report: Sergio Garcia To Avoid European Tour Ban

Sergio Garcia will not face any further punishment from the European Tour after his Saudi International DQ, according to the Scotsman's Martin Dempster.

The Spaniard was disqualified after his third round for damaging five greens on the front nine.

He reportedly scuffed the putting surfaces by dragging his shoe on them and made a divot mark on the 6th green, pictured below by Martin Dempster who photographed it some 24 hours+ later:

Players in the four groups following Garcia and Italian Renato Paratore complained to tournament officials.

Robert Rock was one of those players in the groups behind.

He told The Scotsman, "It was scuff marks and also a mark that appeared to have been made by what looked to have been a putter.

"Like everyone else, I did not know who it was. I wasn't sure if it was one person or more people. I have spoken to Sergio about it. He faced up to it and we are fine. Everyone makes a mistake at some point."

Garcia was DQ'd due to Rule 1.2a, which allows for disqualification if a player has committed serious misconduct.

In a statement released by the European Tour, Sergio Garcia said: “I respect the decision of my disqualification. In frustration, I damaged a couple of greens, for which I apologise for, and I have informed my fellow players it will never happen again.”

The Scotsman understands that Garcia will not receive any further punishment or tournament bans, and he has not been made to pay back any of his appearance money.

The tournament reportedly handed out $9m in appearance fees to the likes of Garcia and the World Numbers One, Two and Three Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson.

Keith Pelley's comments appear to make it fairly clear that Garcia won't be receiving any further bans.

“The incident is over. We have dealt with it. Sergio has apologised to the players and we move on," he said.

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