Sergio Garcia Says Slow Play Warning Made Him 'Rush' At Open Qualifying

Sergio Garcia narrowly missed out at Open Final Qualifying for the second successive year at West Lancashire Golf Club in England, and he said a slow play warning caused him to rush.

The Spaniard was seen in a viral video on social media talking to rules officials who warned his group of slow play. He said that rushing caused him to make a couple of bogeys and cost him a chance of making it to Royal Troon.

Garcia finished at three-under after rounds of 71 and 70, eventually ending two strokes back of the mark that would have got him into a playoff.

"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 said.

"Unless we wanted to start hitting people, we couldn't hit. I don't think they took that into account and that was unfortunate as it made us rush.

"On a day like today, where the conditions are so tricky, you might need a little bit of extra time and because of that I made a couple of bogeys which might have cost me getting to Troon."

The LIV Golfer finished three back of the spots last year at West Lancs, where he went on to miss his first Open since 1997. It means that he'll make his 100th Major start at next year's Masters, where he won in 2017.

"I come here and I try my hardest to get into The Open," Garcia said. "It would be nice to make The Open my 100th Major, but it was tough conditions and sometimes things don't go your way. ... I tried everything that I could and that's all I can ask myself for."

Garcia's fellow LIV player Sam Horsfield was one of the four to make it through at West Lancs, with the Englishman qualifying for his first Major since joining LIV in 2022.

Amateur Matthew Dodd-Berry topped the leaderboard with Daniel Brown and Masahiro Kawamura also making it through.

Garcia's next start will be a familiar one next week at LIV Golf Valderrama before LIV Golf UK at JCB Golf and Country Club two weeks later.

The 44-year-old made it through US Open Final Qualifying earlier this year and went on to finish T12th at Pinehurst No.2. He has enjoyed a good start to the season in the LIV Golf League, currently sitting 7th in the standings after two runners-up finishes as well as another top-five.