Sergio Garcia misses out on Open spot in most brutal way possible

Sergio Garcia’s dream of an Open return at Royal Portrush have been dashed. For now…

Sergio Garcia has made little secret of the fact he is desperate for a return to the Open Championship.

The Spaniard described last week’s International Series event in Macau – which offered up three spots in the field at Royal Portrush in July – as “important” because The Open is his “favorite major”.

Garcia had competed for the Claret Jug for 24 straight years from 1998 to 2022 before his move to LIV Golf saw him plummet down the world rankings and out of those automatic qualification spots. He has since tried a variety of ways to get into the tournament, including Final Qualifying and – as was the case this week – the Open Qualifying Series.

And Garcia flew out the blocks in the Asian Tour event, posting rounds of 65 and 66 to head into the weekend in the top three. But a disappointing 69 on Saturday saw him fall off the pace going into the final round.

With 54-hole leader and fellow LIV golfer Carlos Ortiz running away with it, Garcia went into Sunday knowing he needed a good day to finish in the top three and book a spot in the 153rd edition of golf’s oldest major.

• Which LIV Golf players are exempt for this year’s majors?

• LIV Golf chief responds to heavy criticism as ratings war heats up

It looked like he had got the job done when he left himself a three-footer for birdie at the par-5 18th which would have meant a 64 and a tie with another Jason Kokrak in third behind Ortiz and Patrick Reed.

But the putt stayed up, and another 65 meant he finished in fourth and one back of that all-important top three.

(For those of you who still appreciate a bit of irony – had Garcia holed it, he would have taken the spot at Portrush over Kokrak due to his higher world ranking.)

Still, Garcia will have at least two more chances. His LIV Golf form has been impressive this year, and the R&A have opened up a spot to the highest-placed, otherwise not exempt player in the league’s standings.

If that fails, it will almost certainly be a trip back to Final Qualifying for the 45-year-old.

But boy could Garcia have taken a massive weight off his shoulders by holing that putt.