Sergio Garcia is set to miss out on a place at The Open after finishing on one-under-par in Final Qualifying at West Lancashire.
A total of 20 places are available to the top five finishers at the four Final Qualifying venues: Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire.
The likes of Josele Ballester, Danny Willett, Matt Wallace and Bryan brothers Wes and George all teed it up at West Lancs on Tuesday, where Germany's Tiger Christensen took the first-round lead with a superb seven-under-par round of 65. Christensen went out in 31 and was eight-under through his first 14 holes thanks to four birdies and two eagles before a dropped shot on 15.
Sam Bairstow, who played in The Open in 2022, was second after the first round with a 66, one shot ahead of Estonia's Richard Teder, leaving Garcia three shots back of the lead, but in a four-way tie for a play-off place.
Garcia started well with birdies on 2, 4 and 5 before bogeys at 6 and 8. Two birdies at 11 and 12 were undone by bogeys at 14 and 15, though an eagle on the par-5 16th moved the Spaniard up the leaderboard.
Things unravelled in his second round, however, with four bogeys in the front nine seeing Garcia tumble down the standings and killing off his chances of appearing in a 27th Open Championship.
Garcia, who for a long time in his then-majorless career, looked most likely to break his duck at The Open, where he recorded six top-10 finishes in seven starts between 2001 and 2007. The Spaniard was well on course to win the 2007 Open at Carnoustie when taking a three-shot lead into the final round, only to lose in a play-off to Padraig Harrington having missed an eight-foot par putt on the 18th hole to win.
Despite his excellent Open record, Birkdale was never overly kind to Garcia. The former Masters champion was T29 in 1998 before finishing T51 in 2008 and T37 in 2017.
