Justin Rose: “I think I can still win the Open.” And you have to be in it to win it, so coming here and finishing the task at hand was crucial today in order to give me a chance to realize that dream”; Sergio Garcia is unable to make it for a second consecutive year.
Although Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose’s former Ryder Cup teammate, narrowly missed the cut for the second year in a row, the former made it through qualifying for The Open at Royal Troon.
Rose extended his winning streak at the Burnham Burrow in Somerset last qualifying round by finishing one of four. Rose has participated in every Open since 2007 when healthy (he missed the 2022 tournament due to a back ailment).
The 43-year-old former US Open champion, who has missed the cut in four of his previous five major tournaments, finished tied with fellow Englishman Dominic Clemons, who was defeated in the Amateur Championship final a little over a week ago, and finished eight under par for 36 holes.
“Right now I’ve a little bit of a buzz because it’s super exciting to have got through,”
“There will be times in my career when I’ll just want to qualify for The Open in order to attend another Open, but I still believe I can win The Open.”
“And to win it, you’ve got to be in it, so that was key today to come here and get the job done to give myself an opportunity at that dream.”
Garcia loses out when people swarm to follow the Spaniard
Garcia finished two strokes outside of the top four at West Lancashire in Liverpool, same as he had a year prior, but Rose maintained his hopes of winning the Open.
The 44-year-old is presently only eligible to compete in The Masters as a previous champion due to his low world ranking following his move to LIV Golf.
The fact that hundreds of people followed him shows how well-known he is still, but it came with its own set of issues as the large gallery caused major delays on each hole.
After eight holes, his group was four minutes behind the pace of play and received a warning. However, Garcia felt that was unfair given the circumstances and that it had led to a few missed strokes that would later prove to be critical.
“The marshalls were doing as good a job as they could do but we had to stop pretty much on every tee for two or three minutes because people were walking on the fairways,” Garcia stated.
“I don’t think they considered it, which is bad because it caused us to hurry. You may require a little additional time on a day like today with the challenging weather, and as a result, I made a few mistakes that may have prevented me from reaching Troon.”
Garcia was hoping to earn a spot in his 100th major, which will now be celebrated at Augusta National the following year, in a fairly suitable manner.
The Spaniard was overtaken by amateur Matthew Dodd-Berry of Royal Liverpool, who tied for first place at West Lancashire on six under par with Sam Horsfield. Professionals Dan Brown and Masahiro Kawamura of the DP World Tour also qualified.
At Royal Cinque Ports, Matthew Southgate, another Englishman, finished first on six under, ahead of Elvis Smylie of Australia and Jaime Montojo, an amateur from Spain.
Only five miles from Royal Troon, at Dundonald Links, Englishman Sam Hutsby won with eight under, followed by Spanish player Angel Hidalgo and Irish amateur Liam Nolan tied for second place with five under, and Scottish player Jack McDonald winning a play-off.
