Sergio Garcia takes dig at R&A after being told he deserves an invite into The Open
LIV Golf's Sergio Garcia hits out at the R&A by saying 'viewership is down each year' after he failed to qualify for the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon.
Sergio Garcia has gone along with a LIV Golf fan's suggestion that he deserves an invite to play in the 152nd Open Championship, while bashing 'viewership being down each year' in the final major of the season.
Garcia, 44, failed to qualify for The Open for a second straight year last week.
Last year marked the first time Garcia had failed to qualify for The Open since 1997.
The LIV Golf star came up two strokes shy of picking up one of four spots in The Open at West Lancs last Tuesday.
Garcia's Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) has plummeted to a current 321st as a result of his move to LIV Golf in 2022.
Tournaments on the breakaway Saudi league still do not receive any OWGR points.
Had the 2017 Masters champion qualified for The Open it would have marked his 100th major appearance.
Garcia missed the cut at The Masters in April and then failed to qualify for the US PGA.
But he would sneak his way into the US Open as a first alternate en route to a T12.
Garcia threw a strop during his first round at Open qualifying last week.
That was after his group was put on the clock.
Garcia hit out at R&A officials telling them it was the fans getting in the way of him playing shots that was contributing to slow play.
After missing out on qualifying for The Open, the Spaniard blamed officials for costing him a trip to Royal Troon from 18-21 July.
Still seemingly frustrated to not to be headed to Scotland next week, Garcia has jumped aboard a LIV Golf fan's tweet.
The account named 'LIV Myth Buster' tweeted in response to a video of fans following Garcia at West Lancs last week.
The tweet read: 'This is nuts. @TheSergioGarcia is a huge draw and if you are going to make him qualify then be set up properly to deal with fans. Better idea just dump the OWGR and invite him like you should anyway. @RandA.'
Garcia seemingly agreed with the suggestion he should be entitled to an invite into The Open, but not before taking a dig at viewership figures at golf's oldest major.
Scroll below for Garcia's reply...
Garcia tweeted:
'I like this idea. Viewership down each year - all I want is the opportunity to play. 99 majors down, 2 as an amateur. I’m in it for the long haul!'
Garcia is back in competitive action on home turf at LIV Golf Andalucia this week.
A total of 18 LIV Golf players will compete in the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon next week.
Garcia won't be one of them whether he likes it or not.
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