Sergio Garcia will be playing for pride only on the final day of the US Open, after some incredibly bad luck on Saturday cost him any chance of remaining in contention at Torrey Pines.

The third round of the tournament was already not going as Garcia would have liked as he approached the 13th hole yesterday.

Two-over for the day and five-over for the tournament, the Spaniard knew he needed to find something special at the par-five hole to resurrect his hopes.

And, for a fleeting moment, it looked like he had found it. Garcia hit a perfectly weighted half wedge shot from the fairway with his fourth stroke - and the ball looked to be heading straight for the hole.

In a cruel twist, however, the 41-year-old saw the ball ricochet off the flagstick. Visions of a sensational birdie quickly evaporated as the ball spun off the green, eventually landing back at his feet. All the desperately unfortunate Garcia could do was look on in disbelief.

"That's not going to cheer him up, is it?" remarks the commentator, in one of the biggest understatements of the weekend.

Further frustration, though, would soon follow for Garcia. Hitting his fifth shot from almost the exact same spot as his fourth, he couldn't find the same level of accuracy. The flagstick was of no consequence this time around, as the shot sailed past the hole, finishing a fair distance it.

The sensational sequence can be seen here:

It took Garcia at further two shots to hole the ball, meaning that his brush with the flagstick had turned a potential birdie into a double bogey.

Finishing a day that he would no doubt like to forget on five-over-par, Garcia trails tournament leaders Mackenzie Hughes, Russell Henley and Louis Oosthuizen (who sit tied at five-under) by ten strokes.

In his 22-year career, the 2017 Masters winner won't have experienced many passages of play as frustrating as the few moments he endured on Saturday. It is fair to say that Garcia probably won't be seeking out highlights of yesterday's play from San Diego any time soon.