SERGIO GARCIA'S LIV GOLF MOVE CONTINUES TO DEAL MORE HEARTACHE WITH LATEST 'DREAM' SHATTERED

Sergio Garcia will once again miss the British Open after the LIV Golf star fell two shots short in Final Qualifying at West Lancashire Golf Club on Tuesday.

Garcia competed in the 36-hole event on British soil in the hope of earning a 100th major championship start, however the Spaniard will miss the trip to Royal Troon later this month. The Spaniard enjoyed a steady start to the mammoth day of golf, carding a solid one-under-par 70 in his opening round in testing conditions.

He still had plenty of work to do with another 18 holes to play, though, and while bettering his morning score by two shots in the afternoon, the Fireballs captain fell two shots short at three-under for the week.

For Garcia, it was a bitter pill to swallow who fell short at British Open qualifying for the second year in a row. Speaking afterwards, the former Masters champion admitted it would have been a dream to bring up his century of major starts at the event taking place in Scotland.

"I was fighting as hard as I could to make it through," Garcia told reporters post-round. "It would have been a dream come true to make The Open my 100th major because I love The Open, everybody knows how much I love playing here in the UK and you could see it with the amount of people we had following our group this year and last year."

Garcia has been forced to turn to qualifying at both the British and US Open in recent years, having felt the effects of LIV move by tumbling down the world rankings. This has seen the former PGA Tour star lose his exemptions in the three of the four flagship events.

He does however have a lifetime spot at The Masters, having won famous green jacket back in 2017 ahead of fellow European Justin Rose. This does of course mean Garcia's 100th major event will come at Augusta National next April, in a slight silver lining for the LIV star.

"It is a little bit disappointing [The Open not being major 100]," he added. "I guess though it will be The Masters which is also not a bad choice. It would have been nice to be at Troon. The only thing I can do is come here and give it everything I have and see what happens. I'm going to be a little short, but that is life, and that is golf."

It was not all bad for the LIV setup at West Lancashire though, as Majesticks GC star Sam Horsfield booked his trip to Royal Troon after carding six-under-par across his 36 holes. He was tied at the top alongside English amateur Matthew Dodd-Berry, with his fellow countryman Daniel Brown and Japan's Masahiro Kawamura taking the final two spots.

2024-07-02T18:50:11Z dg43tfdfdgfd