Sergio Garcia has shared his honest thoughts after narrowly missing out on final Open qualifying at West Lancashire Golf Club.
The Spaniard finished two shots adrift of Kawmaura Masahiro and Daniel Brown after carding rounds of 71 and 70 in Blundellsands.
Now, unless there’s a dramatic change, the 44-year-old LIV Golf star will have to wait until next year’s Masters to register his 100th major championship outing.
Garcia’s 36 holes, however, weren’t short of controversy after footage emerged of the former Masters champion engaging in a heated discussion with a rules official during his morning round.
The 44-year-old has now explained a little more clearly why the incident impacted his chances of qualifying for The Open.
Sergio Garcia hits out at marshals after Open qualifying failure
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Speaking after his round, Garcia claimed the sheer number of people watching his group were causing severe delays on each tee box.
“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,” he said.
Garcia added: “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.”
The LIV Golf man admitted that he perhaps got a little unlucky after he lipped out on the sixth hole.
“It’s tough conditions, and obviously, things don’t go your way,” said Garcia. “Obviously, the chip on six lips out; if that goes in, you get to four and might birdie one hole in. I tried everything that I could, and that’s all I can ask myself for.”
Notable names who were successful at Open qualifying
Justin Rose is heading back to The Open Championship after successfully earning his spot at Burnham and Berrow. The Englishman carded rounds of 66 and 68 to finish on eight under.
LIV Golf stars Abraham Ancer and Sam Horsfield will also be present in Troon. Mexican Ancer had to earn his spot the hard way after coming through a three-for-two two playoff after finishing on five under after his two rounds.
Graeme McDowell, who was also forced to earn his spot through qualifying, came up short after shooting one-over par at Royal Cinque Ports in Kent.
Elsewhere, Englishman Sam Hutsby will be participating in his first major championship after winning the qualifier at Dundonald Links in Irvine, Scotland.
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