A large crowd following Ryder Cup hero and LIV Golf rebel Sergio Garcia as he attempted to qualify for The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool later this month were left disappointed on Tuesday.
The Spaniard was part of a 72-man field at West Lancashire Golf Club, but an underwhelming second round in relatively benign conditions proved costly as he missed out on one of the five qualifying spots by three shots. Matt Wallace – a winner on the PGA Tour this year – won the event at 11-under-par, with fellow Englishman Matthew Jordan – a lifelong member at Hoylake – and South Africa's Kyle Barker carding 10-under in the marathon 36-hole event.
Alex Fitzpatrick, brother of 2022 US Open champion Matt, and highly-rated German amateur Tiger Christensen – named after the 15-time major champion – turned in cards of nine-under to secure their places at Hoylake on July 16. Garcia (-6), fellow LIV Golf star Graeme McDowell (-4) and 2014 Ryder Cup winner Jamie Donaldson (-3) were among the big names to miss out a West Lancs.
Garcia, the 2017 Masters winner – who has tumbled to 219th in the world rankings since turning his back on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to join LIV, hence why he had to qualify – was hugely disappointed with the result.
“I haven’t missed many majors since I turned pro in 1999, just one before of Covid and the PGA, and unfortunately, I’ll miss this one,” the 43-year-old told Bunkered. “It’s a shame. I felt like I had it early on and I was going nicely. I got a pretty bad break on seven in the afternoon that stopped my momentum a bit, and it was tough to get going again.
“I’m sure that a lot of the people who were following me today would’ve loved to have seen me at Hoylake, but hopefully, I’ll be back soon.
“I’ve always felt very blessed about the love I get, but here in the UK even more. To see the kind of crowds we had for a British Open qualifier, it was pretty impressive. I hope they enjoyed it, but I would just have loved to give them a couple more things to cheer for.”
Final qualifiers were held across Britain on Wednesday to determine the final members of the field for the last major of the year.
In awkward conditions at Dundonald Links in Scotland, just 12 players shot under par as PGA Tour regular Aaron Rai (+1) and PGA Championship cult hero Michael Block (+9) missed out on four qualifying berths.
Laurie Canter and Matthew Southgate were among the five qualifiers at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, while just five men shot under par at Royal Cinque Ports in Kent, including LIV players Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace, who earned a spot in the 151st Open.
