Sergio Garcia needs two words to explain his Masters after destroying driver

• Sergio Garcia says he plays "bad golf" at the Masters.
• Garcia started hitting fairways with his 3-wood after smashing his driver. Problem solved?
• Garcia's struggles a microcosm of LIV's poor showing at Masters.

Follow along with live updates of all the final-round action at the Masters Tournament.

AUGUSTA, GA — Had to be done. OK, maybe it didn’t have to be done, but that darn driver was holding Sergio Garcia back.

So, Garcia made sure he wasn’t tempted to pull driver again.

He'd shoved his drive wide right of the fairway on the first hole of his final round at the Masters.

That resulted in an unhappy Sergio.

The next hole, his drive sailed into the bunker.

An unhappy Sergio spiraled into an angry Sergio.

Only one thing left to do.

Garcia destroyed his driver.

Sergio Garcia 'not super proud' of destroying driver

Who among us weekend hackers hasn’t considered snapping our club after a couple of bad shots? Well, Sergio did it.

He smashed his tee with his club on the No. 2 tee box, then slammed his club into the ground. When his driver wouldn’t give in, he took one more swing – his final swing of the day with his driver – and connected with his target: a cooler.

The driver tapped out. The club head broke off.

"Not super proud of it," Garcia, the fiery 2017 Masters champion, said after he finished the tournament at 8-over and way outside of contention, "but sometimes it happens."

Garcia’s unraveling became a snapshot of the collectively woeful showing by LIV golfers this week.

One hole after destroying his club, Garcia pulled 3-wood and split the fairway.

Problem solved, eh? Took the thinking out of his tee shots, anyway.

"It makes it very easy," Garcia said. "I just have to hit 3-wood all the time. I didn't have to choose another club."

How to explain Garcia's Masters performance? 'Bad golf.'

Say this much for Garcia’s week here at Augusta National: He wasn’t boring. The man entertains.

Before the tournament, he warned the press he was "not feeling super amazing" about his game.

After shooting even par in Round 1, he toned down a reporter’s attempt to praise his round by responding that he hit some "terrible shots."

Garcia, 46, hasn’t finished in the top 20 here since winning his green jacket nearly a decade ago. How to explain the drop off?

"Bad golf," Garcia said.

Two words. That’s all you get. That’s all you need, really.

OK, but what’s causing the bad golf?

"Bad shots," Garcia said.

Heard that.

"Unfortunately, a lot of bad shots," he concluded.

The bad shots reduced, after Garcia’s bag got a lighter.

He went 12 for 12 hitting fairways with his 3-wood after his driver went limp.

Although you can’t expect the green coats here to celebrate El Niño becoming a tornado of temper on No. 2, it did result in some levity. As Garcia addressed his tee shot on No. 11, a 520-yard par-4, one patron asked another whether Garcia had a 3-wood in his hands.

"Well, it’s not his driver," the other patron quipped, tongue in cheek.

Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.