Sergio Garcia said he was nauseous and felt like vomiting as he failed to advance through Final Qualifying to play at The Open Championship at Birkdale this year.
The former Masters champion started brightly in round one with a four-under-par 68 at West Lancs on Merseyside, and was in great shape to qualify for his 27th Open appearance.
But like in 2023 and 2024, Garcia faltered and didn’t earn a spot from the same qualifying course just a short drive from this year’s host venue in Southport. He shot a 75 in the afternoon, and said what he had for lunch between rounds didn’t help.
“It’s disappointing because the end goal was to make The Open,” Garcia told reporters outside the West Lancs clubhouse.
“I felt like I played well this morning. I had a nice finish, and I had things going a little bit. I had a little bit of food there in the player’s lounge, and it didn’t sit well with me.
“I struggled very much in my first holes in the afternoon – nauseous. I felt like I was going to puke on pretty much every single hole.
“That made it very difficult for me to concentrate on what I wanted to do, which was play well and give myself a chance, and I thought about stopping after nine (holes).
“I thought, let’s play a couple more and see if I can get something going and a miracle happens. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. That’s what it is.
“I only ate the lasagne,” he added. “I thought maybe have a little pasta and stuff, but for some reason it didn’t sit well with me, and I just felt nauseous the whole front nine. In the afternoon, I felt like I was going to vomit pretty much on every hole.”
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Garcia certainly made hay in the more favourable and brighter conditions of Tuesday morning, but at times in the second round in Crosby, the rain hammered down and made for extremely testing conditions.
The 46-year-old has been playing in the LIV Golf League since its inception in 2022. As 2026 was the first year that the breakaway tour was granted Official World Golf Ranking Points, Garcia and his colleagues have had less access to ranking points in that four-year gap, which helps to qualify for the four majors.
This is now three times in four years that the Spaniard has looked to Final Open Qualifying to salvage a spot in the field of golf’s oldest major. He has made 10 top-10s in his career at The Open, and came closest to hoisting the Claret Jug in 2007, when he lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington at Carnoustie.
Since joining the Saudi-funded tour, he has missed out on seven major championships. He didn’t qualify for the US Open or the PGA Championship this year, but as a former winner at Augusta National, he is allowed to play in the Masters for the rest of his days.
“I try to go year by year and see how I feel,” Garcia said about Final Open Qualifying. “But obviously I love The Open, and I want to give myself as many chances as possible to play it. Ideally, hopefully I’ll keep playing well and get in the top 50 in the world, and then I won’t have to worry about coming in and qualifying.”
Sam Bairstow, Kazuma Kobori, Jose Luis Ballester and Tiger Christensen qualified in the top four spots, while Matt Jordan, Joe Dean and amateur Sam Easterbrook played off on holes 10 and 18 for the final spot of five. Jordan prevailed.
NOW READ: It’s just a name! Tiger Christensen has a formidable record at Final Open Qualifying
NOW READ: The Open Championship field 2026: Who is playing at Royal Birkdale?
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