Sergio Garcia blames R&A officials (!) for missing out on spot at The Open
Sergio Garcia has finally reacted to his angry outburst during Final Open Qualifying which saw the Spanish LIV Golf pro put on the clock for slow play.
It wasn't to be for Sergio Garcia.
The Spanish LIV Golf pro came up short in his bid to qualify for this month's Open at Royal Troon.
Garcia was one of a number of players who were involved yesterday's 36-hole Final Qualifying.
The former Masters champion was playing in West Lancashire and finished in a tie for sixth.
Agonisingly for Garcia, only four spots were available from that venue.
Garcia drew plaudits as he stuck around to sign a few autographs after his near miss.
But it was clear the European Ryder Cup legend was extremely unhappy.
His day was marred by an angry exchange with a few officials from the R&A.
During his first round, Garcia's group was put on the clock after falling five minutes behind the three-ball in front.
Garcia pointed out that there were thousands of fans following his group and there were no restrictions on where spectators could stand.
It led to delays, he contended.
"You're right, we're always wrong," he blasted in a video which was captured by bunkered's Ben Parsons.
Garcia later told the publication: "It’s very simple.
"When you have 2,000 people following us with no ropes, nothing, the marshals were trying to do as good a job as they could, but we had to stop pretty much on every tee for two or three minutes because people were walking in front off the teebox and on the fairway.
"Unless we wanted to start hitting people, we couldn't hit. I don't think they took that into account and it made us rush.
"When the conditions are this tricky and you need a bit of extra time here and there it doesn't help. Because of that I made a couple of bogeys that might cost me getting to Troon."
The R&A enlisted more marshals for his afternoon round.
Despite Garcia's day ending in disappointment, a few of his LIV peers grabbed spots in the final men's major of the year.
Abraham Ancer and Sam Horsfield were the only two players from the breakaway tour that advanced.
Which players qualified?
- Burnham & Berrow: Justin Rose, Dominic Clemons (a), Abraham Ancer, Charlie Lindh.
- Dundonald Links: Sam Hutsby, Angel Hidalgo, Liam Nolan, Jack McDonald.
- Royal Cinque Ports: Matthew Southgate, Elvis Smylie, Jaime Montojo, Luis Masaveu.
- West Lancashire: Matthew Dodd-Berry (a), Sam Horsfield, Daniel Brown, Masahiro Kawamura.
