Sergio Garcia falls short in Open qualifying as 20 players book places

Sergio Garcia has not qualified for next month’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, meaning he will miss the event for the third time in four years. The Spaniard was unable to stay inside the five available qualifying places at West Lancashire despite opening with a round of 60.

Garcia followed that strong start with a second-round 75, leaving him outside the cut for qualification at that venue. Danny Willett and Matt Wallace also missed out at West Lancashire, where Sam Bairstow finished first at 10 under to secure his Open place.

Kazuma Kobori, Jose Luis Ballester, Tiger Christensen and Matthew Jordan also came through at West Lancashire. Across the other venues, Jack McDonald led qualifying at Dundonald Links, James Nicholas topped the group at Burnham and Berrow, and five players advanced from Royal Cinque Ports.

The results underline how narrow final qualifying can be, with established major winners and lesser-known contenders competing for the same limited spots. For editors and readers, the main discussion point is whether Garcia’s near-miss says more about the volatility of qualifying or the difficulty of maintaining form across 36 holes.