Golf: Sergio Garcia disqualified from Saudi International after damaging greens

Spanish pro golfer Sergio Garcia has been disqualified from the Saudi International after intentionally damaging five greens in bizarre moments of rage.

Garcia lost his cool multiple times during the week at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, leaving his mark in at least one green with his putter and reportedly dragging his shoe across several others.

The damage was enough to see fellow players complain and consequently have the 39-year-old dropped from the tournament for "serious misconduct" under rule 1.2a of the USGA.

Although no footage of Garcia damaging the greens have since surfaced, the Spaniard was caught on camera dramatically losing his cool in the bunker at the par-5 fourth hole.

Coming off back-to-back birdies, Garcia found the front greenside bunker in two but failed to get his first attempt out. After his second attempt from the sand, Sergio went crazy on the bunker, slamming his wedge into the sand several times and reportedly cussing under his breath.

The footage, which has since been widely shared on social media, caught the attention of golf fans who have expressed their disgust in Garcia's behaviour.

"Heat of the moment stuff but he'd be rightly embarrassed by that. Horrendous disrespect particularly for the hardworking people who maintain the course and his fellow players. That's weekend hacker stuff that would have you in front of the committee at most clubs," one person wrote on Twitter.

Garcia has since publically apologised over the incident and European Tour CEO Keith Pelley said he would receive no further discipline.

"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," Garcia said in the statement.

But not everyone accepted Garcia's apology, with Golf World's Shane Ryan slamming the Spanish golfer as a "disgrace".

"All of this, every last bit of it, is completely and utterly nuts," Ryan wrote. " If he had lost his cool and done this to one green, it would be a crazy story. The fact that Garcia did it reportedly to no fewer than five greens is frankly unbelievable. It shows an utter lack of self-control. It gives us a glimpse into Sergio's soul that no temporary blow-up ever could, and what it shows is not flattering.

"Now, he's in disgrace, and the ignominy is entirely of his own making. We may never understand the dark mental turns that convinced him to damage those greens, one after another, but the damage to his legacy is crystal clear."

Garcia had been on a run of recent good form, notching top-10s in his previous six European Tour starts.