LIV Golf’s Sergio Garcia falls short of The Open, frustrated by slow play warning

Sergio Garcia, a prominent figure in LIV Golf, recently failed to qualify for The Open Championship. Garcia was a notable participant in the final qualifying event held at West Lancashire Golf Club in Liverpool. This event was one of four final qualifiers across the United Kingdom, but despite his efforts, Garcia shot a 3-under 141 over 36 holes, missing out on one of the four available spots by just two strokes.
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Reflecting on his performance, Garcia shared his disappointment, stating, “I tried my hardest to get into The Open; it would have been nice to make The Open my 100th major. I love The Open, and I love playing majors. But it’s tough when you’re that close and finish right on the edge. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it.”

This year marked Garcia’s second attempt to qualify for The Open via West Lancashire Golf Club. He attempted the same route last year for the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. According to Garcia, the course was more challenging this year due to tougher conditions. However, his familiarity with the course, thanks to his experience from the previous year, allowed him to navigate the seaside links with a certain degree of comfort. Despite knowing his lines and where to miss shots, the difficult conditions and other factors ultimately hindered his success.

Midway through his first 18 holes, Garcia expressed frustration when R&A officials put him on the clock for slow play, as reported by Ben Parsons of Bunkered. Garcia attributed the slow pace to the large number of fans following him, rather than his own routine and deliberations. He remarked, “The marshals were trying to do the best job they could do, but obviously, we had to stop pretty much on every tee for two to three minutes to hit our tee shots because people were walking in front of the tee and on the fairway. Unless we wanted to start hitting people, we couldn’t hit. I don’t think they took that into account, and that was unfortunate. It made us rush. On a day like today, when the conditions are so tricky, and you might need a little bit of extra time here and there, it doesn’t help out. Because of that, I made a couple of bogeys that might cost me getting to Troon.”

Garcia’s last notable performance at Royal Troon came in 2016 when he tied for fifth at The Open Championship. During that tournament, Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson engaged in a memorable duel, with Stenson ultimately securing victory by three strokes at 20-under-par, setting the lowest aggregate score in Open history.

Given his LIV Golf affiliation, Garcia’s Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) has dropped to 312th, necessitating his attempt to qualify for The Open. The R&A only extends automatic invitations to the top 50 players in the world to fill its 156-man field, and Garcia’s exemption into The Open expired in 2022, five years after his victory at The Masters.

Despite his disappointment, Garcia remained optimistic, saying, “You come out here, you play as hard as you can and hope it’s good enough. If it’s not, then we’ll keep trying. Then, you know, The Masters will be my 100th major next April. That’s also a good choice.”