Sergio Garcia’s latest attempt to play his way into the Open Championship ended with a missed qualifying spot and an unexpected explanation.
Garcia fell short on Tuesday in 36-hole final qualifying at West Lancashire, where a second-round dip left him outside the group heading to Royal Birkdale next month. The 46-year-old opened with a 4-under-par 68 and was in position to contend for one of the available spots, but he followed with a 75 in the afternoon to finish at 1 under.
Afterward, Garcia pointed to the meal he ate between rounds as part of the reason he faded.
“I only ate the lasagna,” Garcia told reporters. “I thought ‘have a little pasta,’ but for some reason it didn’t sit well with me and I just felt nauseous the whole front nine of the afternoon.”
Garcia said he considered withdrawing because of the discomfort, but tried to keep playing in hopes of turning the round back around.
“I felt like I was going to vomit pretty much on every hole and I thought about stopping,” he said. “But I thought, well, let’s play a couple more and see if I get something going, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
The missed opportunity means Garcia will be absent from The Open for the third time in four years. He has long been one of the game’s better links players, with two runner-up finishes and three other top-five results at the major championship, but he’s lost yet another chance to chase a first Claret Jug.
Garcia said he hit the ball well when he felt healthy, including late in the second round, but the damage had already been done during his difficult opening nine in the afternoon.
“When I was feeling healthy today I hit a lot of good shots. Even on the second nine of the afternoon, when I kind of started feeling a bit better again, I hit a lot of good shots. But those first nine holes killed me,” Garcia said. “It’s a shame. When you’re this age and you’re playing 36 holes, you need to eat between the rounds and you do that and it doesn’t sit well with you and you’re struggling with your stomach pretty much the whole second round, it’s tough.”
Englishman Samuel Bairstow led the qualifiers at West Lancashire at 10 under. Garcia’s LIV Golf colleague Josele Ballester of Spain also grabbed one of five spots available at the site, while Caleb Surratt advanced from Burnham & Berrow and Peter Uihlein earned a spot through Royal Cinque Ports.
–Field Level Media
