Sergio Garcia Blames Fans for Missing Out on Open Championship

Sergio Garcia will not make it to Royal Troon this year for The Open Championship as his qualifying run came up short at Lancashire Golf Club.

Garcia played 36 holes today at Lancashire in an attempt to qualify for his 100th Major Championship. However, he came up two shots short and finished three-under-par and blamed his lack of ability to get in rhythm due to fans at the event:

Sergio Garcia Throws a Temper Tantrum Over Pace of Play Warning

After his rounds finished on Tuesday, he commented on his outburst to a rules official who put his group on the clock after a pace of play violation (via Bunkered):

“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 do, but obviously, we had to stop pretty much on every tee for two or three minutes to hit our tee shots because people were walking in front of the tee and on the fairway."

Garcia said the lack of speed during his rounds today was a result of looking out for the safety of spectators:

“Unless we wanted to start hitting people, we couldn’t hit. I don’t think they took that into account, and that was unfortunate because it made us rush. On a day like today, where the conditions are so tricky, and you might need a little bit of extra time here and there, it doesn’t help out."

Garcia ultimately blamed the fans for a few shortcomings during his qualifying rounds:

“Because of that, I made a couple of bogeys that might cost me getting to Troon.”

Garcia will have to wait until Augusta next April at The Masters to make it to his 100th Major Championship appearance. However, he wishes it was this July at The Open:

"It would have been a dream come true to make The Open my 100th major because I love the Open. Everyone knows how much I love playing in the UK and you could see it with the amount of people that we had following our group last year and this year.”

Garcia will head to his native Spain to play in next week's LIV Valderrama event, which he said is his favorite course.

Cover Image via Golf Magazine