Daily Mail

TV man’s joke falls flat with the Garcias

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SERGIO GARCIA and wife angela had a serious sense-of-humour failure following his nightmare 13 shots at the 15th hole in the first round. Golf channel anchor Rich Lerner posted an amusing comment — in light of all the publicity over the Garcias naming their first child azalea after augusta’s 13th hole and Sergio’s first major.

Lerner tweeted: ‘Sergio won’t be naming his next kid Firethorn’ — the course title for the parfive 15th hole where he suffered his meltdown.

Garcia’s wife angela, a former reporter on the Golf channel, tweeted: ‘Hey@RichLerner­Gc, the next time you decide to tweet about my future child, why don’t you use your brain and not do it. Don’t be an idiot.’

Garcia commented: ‘What happened at 15 was unfortunat­e for me and it hurt. But I tried to handle it like a Masters champion should. That same hole gave me that green jacket last year so we might end up calling our next kid Firethorn after all, funny man.’

Lerner then backed down, saying: ‘My apologies to angela and Sergio for my poorly timed attempt to lighten the mood. Missed the mark with a flippant comment. No ill intended.’ NEW Masters chairman Fred Ridley will be determined not to mess up the trophy presentati­on tomorrow as he did the opening-drive ceremony with honorary starters Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. Ridley somehow announced that between them the pair had won 10 Masters when Nicklaus (right) has six green jackets and Player three. Ridley’s embarrassm­ent was eased by the two golfing greats making a joke of it — saying the longest drive by an honorary starter was now worth a green jacket to add to their nine. SHANE WARNE, despite being australian sport’s biggest irritant from a lengthy list, has certainly been blessed with talent. Not only has he taken 708 Test wickets, he also scored a hole-in-one on augusta’s 16th last March. Only 19 players in the history of the Masters have achieved eighthandi­capper Warne’s feat during the tournament. The aussie, a guest of Irish sporting tycoon Dermot Desmond’s family, had been hoping just to break 90. He tweeted afterwards about his shot: ‘155 yards to a back-right pin into the wind. Hit a 67-iron, one hop and in.’ AUGUSTA National has long been looking at expanding its property across Washington Road, where lies the vast Whole Life Ministries complex.But so far it is understood the religious order will not be tempted to move, despite the name-yourown price opportunit­y. The Masters want the land eventually to build enough accommodat­ion to house all the Masters competitor­s on site. And the way the Masters put up mansions between tournament­s, diverting Washington Road would not present a problem.

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