Seeking to play in his 25th consecutive Open Championship, Sergio Garcia will lead several members of the LIV Golf League in hoping to secure last-minute entry into the field at Royal Liverpool via 36-hole qualifying next week.
From major champions like Garcia, Graeme McDowell and Charl Schwartzel, to reserve players like Andy Ogletree and Wade Ormsby, 21 LIV golfers will play July 4 in Final Qualifying for the 151st Open at four sites. Four spots will be offered from each site.
In England, West Lancashire and Royal Cinque Ports are host venues while Royal Porthcawl in Wales and Dundonald Links in Scotland round out the quartet. Those 21 LIV players are competing in final qualifying due to their Official World Golf Ranking being outside the top 50, the threshold for earning an automatic spot into the field, and failing to qualify via any of the R&A’s 27 exemption criteria.
For LIV golfers, the Final Qualifying events falls on the Tuesday after LIV’s tournament at Valderrama Golf Club in Spain and just three days before the start of the league’s event at Centurion, outside London.
Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, has played in the Open every year going back to the 1998 edition at Royal Birkdale, where he qualified as the British Amateur champion. The 43-year-old enjoyed an impressive run at the championship featuring 10 top-10 results in a 15-year span from 2002. That included the 2007 Open at Carnoustie, when Garcia lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington, and another runner-up showing in 2014 to Rory McIlroy at Royal Liverpool.
At Porthcawl, Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri, Laurie Canter, Matt Jones, and Cameron Tringale will make the three-hour drive from Centurion to Wales.
Leishman has played every Open since 2012 and posted three top-six finishes that included a playoff loss to Zach Johnson at the 2015 edition at St. Andrews.
“If 36-hole qualifying is what I have to do get into the Open, then I’m happy to do it,” Leishman said. “I hadn’t played final qualifiers for a while [until last month’s U.S. Open], but this works in conveniently only a couple hours from where we’re playing near London and it’s when I’d normally be playing a practice round. I feel I’ve got some really good play left in me at the majors.”
South Africa’s Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, headlines seven LIV players at Royal Cinque Ports.
The LIV golfers who are exempt for The Open are Abraham Ancer, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuzien, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Richard Bland, Talor Gooch and Thomas Pieters.
Among the other noteworthy tour pros taking part in Final Qualifying are Alex Fitzpatrick, the younger brother of U.S. Open winner Matt, as well as Aaron Wise, and Matt Wallace (West Lancashire). At Dundonald, notable pros include Matt Kuchar, Mackenzie Hughes, Aaron Rai and club pro Michael Block, who tied 15th at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
West Lancashire: Graeme McDowell, Sergio García, Mito Pereira, Scott Vincent
Royal Cinque Ports: Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel, Brendan Steele, David Puig, Dean Burmester, Wade Ormsby, Kieran Vincent
Dundonald Links: Carlos Ortiz, Peter Uihlein, Jason Kokrak, Sebastian Muñoz, Andy Ogletree
Royal Porthcawl: Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri, Laurie Canter, Matt Jones, and Cameron Tringale