Ryder Cup EXCLUSIVE: Sergio Garcia has been urged to take a break after his recent antics

Garcia was disqualified last week for damaging five greens in the third round. No TV footage of those incidents was available but the 2017 Masters champion was filmed thrashing around in a bunker like a petulant teenager during round two. “I’ve been a big fan of Sergio for the last 20 years,” Jacklin told the Daily Express. “He’s an incredibly talented golfer and I don’t know anyone in the game, including Tiger Woods, who has more ability but unfortunately he made a fool of himself last week.

“It was worthy of more than disqualification. I’d have banned him. Damaging greens on a golf course is an offence that deserves a suspension. The European Tour have said the incident is over and it’s time to move on. Well, if he’s not going to be banned, then I’d like to see him take a self-imposed break from the game. “I think he needs time to realise how fortunate he is, at 39, to have everything money can buy, a young family and everything to be grateful for,” said Jacklin, the most successful captain in European Ryder Cup history and winner of the 1969 Open and 1970 US Open. “To see his frustration spill over the way it did last week shows he’s not in a well-balanced state of mind. There seems to be an anger within him and golf is a game you can’t play angry.

Ryder Cup EXCLUSIVE: Sergio Garcia was disqualified from the Saudi International last week

I don’t know anyone in the game, including Tiger Woods, who has more ability Tony Jacklin

“You can’t start hacking away at the course. It’s wrong from every single angle. If you are a golfer in the same group as Sergio when he’s doing that, it’s not something you want to be dealing with.” Garcia has had a long and stellar career. He is Europe’s all-time leading Ryder Cup points scorer and has won almost 40 tournaments around the world, but he also has a history of falling foul of authority. He threw a golf shoe in a fit of pique during a tournament at Wentworth in 1999, spat in a hole at Doral in 2007 and racially insulted Tiger Woods at a dinner in 2013. “Seeing someone go off the way he did in Saudi is embarrassing,” said Jacklin.

Ryder Cup EXCLUSIVE: Sergio Garcia is one of Europe's most successful Ryder Cup player

Ryder Cup EXCLUSIVE: Tony Jacklin believes Sergio Garcia should take a break