Garcia has silver lining thanks to LIV Golf after Open qualifying heartbreak

Sergio Garcia may have missed out on qualifying for this month’s Open Championship, but the Spaniard remains upbeat about LIV Golf’s upcoming European swing.

Garcia has been forced to turn to major qualifying for both the US Open and Open Championship this campaign having seen his name drift down the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) since joining LIV Golf. Stateside, Garcia missed out on a spot at Pinehurst No. 2 last month, after falling short in a seven-for-six playoff in qualifying.

And this week the former Masters champion fell to the same fate, missing out on one of the four places on offer at West Lancashire Golf Club by just two shots following 36 holes of golf in testing conditions.

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Despite this, Garcia is still looking forward to the weeks ahead with LIV heading to his native Spain at the iconic Real Club Valderrama in the first leg of their trip to Europe. “Obviously Valderrama is my favorite golf course in the world and I am always really excited to go there and see what the Fireballs can do,” he shared after his near-miss on the Wirral.

He will of course miss The Open a week later, but will then be back on British soil at the end of July for LIV Golf’s first trip to the uber-exclusive JCB Country Club “JCB I have heard great things about it. I have never played it but I am excited about it,” the Fireballs captain added.

“To be able to come back and play in front of the British crowd. I would love to have made it three weeks in a row but unfortunately, that is the way life is and you have just gotta keep grinding and work hard.” Garcia proved a fan favourite at West Lancashire last week, with hundreds of fans following him throughout his 36 holes.

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This hefty support did prove a problem however, after Garcia complained about the lack of crowd control having been handed a slow play warning by officials. “When you have 2,000 people following us with no ropes, nothing,” he commented.

“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.”