Sergio Garcia was 3 feet from an Open Championship berth.
And then he wasn’t.
Garcia missed the short birdie putt on his final hole Sunday at the Asian Tour’s International Serie Macau, settling for par and a fourth-place finish, one shot behind fellow LIV Golf member Jason Kokrak.
Kokrak earned the final of three invites into this summer’s Open at Royal Portrush. The two other qualifiers from the event, which is part of the Open Qualifying Series, were also LIV players: runner-up Patrick Reed and winner Carlos Ortiz.
Garcia would’ve won a tiebreaker with Kokrak, considering he is ranked better in the Official World Golf Ranking (No. 513 to No. 775).
After competing in 22 straight Opens, Garcia failed to qualify in each of the past two years; he took part in final qualifying both years, though didn’t advance. He still has chances to qualify this year, whether through final qualifying or a new exemption that will go to the top player inside the top five of LIV’s standings after the LIV Dallas event in June who is not already exempt. Garcia is currently third in LIV points behind Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann, who are both already qualified.
Following Marc Leishman at the Australian Open, four LIV players have now earned Open spots via the qualifying series, which continues at the Kolon Korea Open in May.
The field for July 17-20 at Portrush currently features 14 LIV players: Ortiz, Reed, Kokrak, Rahm, Niemann, Leishman, Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Tom McKibbin, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen and Cameron Smith.
