LIV Golf star Patrick Reed's last chance of playing in The Open pushed to brink

Patrick Reed's chances of qualifying for The Open at Royal Troon appear increasingly slim after a disappointing performance in the opening two rounds of the Italian Open.

The LIV Golf star received a sponsor's exemption for the DP World Tour event at Adriatic Golf Club Cervia, which has two qualifying places for next month's Open up for grabs. The 33-year-old made a solid start with a two-under-par opening round on Thursday.

But the 2016 Masters champion fell off the pace on Friday, carding an error-strewn level-par round to leave him tied for 45th, six shots adrift of co-leaders Jannick De Bruyn and Gunner Wiebe.

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Reed made a sloppy start with a bogey at the par-four 10th – his first hole of the day – but he responded in style with three birdies in his next five holes to reach four under for the tournament.

There were a pair of birdies on his back nine, too, but he was left to regret bogeys at two and six, bookending a double-bogey six at the fourth to finish level for the day.

Reed is safely inside the cut line of -1, but he has a mountain to climb over the weekend if he is to qualify for the field for Royal Troon. It is the former world No. 6's final chance of making the trip to Scotland, having declined the opportunity to take part in final qualifying for the Open.

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Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer and Graeme McDowell are among 15 LIV Golf stars who will take part in one of four final qualifying events across Britain on Tuesday – but Reed has opted to instead focus all of his efforts on the Italian Open.

Reed made a similar decision in the lead-up to the U.S. Open, when he had registered to play in a final qualifier for a spot at Pinehurst No. 2, but he withdrew at short notice. It brought a steak of 41 consecutive major championship appearances to an end, and the Texas native is facing the prospect of missing a second in succession with his middling performance in Italy.

Reed's need to qualify to play in the majors stems from his move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf two years ago. The breakaway circuit remains unsanctioned by the Official World Golf Ranking and Reed has plummeted out of the top-100 as a result.

“I feel like the world ranking is not a reflection of where I should be and what events I should be in,” Reed commented at LIV Houston earlier this month .“But at the end of the day, I don’t make those decisions. It’s their call on special exemptions. They’re the ones that make those decisions and I just have to live with it, just continue doing what I do and play golf.”