Sergio Garcia is among the LIV Golf players set to tee it up at a final US Open qualifier in Dallas on Monday.
The Spaniard failed to qualify for this year’s PGA Championship, making it the first Major he was ineligible for since the 1999 US Open after plummeting down the world rankings following his move to the Saudi-funded breakaway circuit.
Garcia, who won the 2017 Masters, is clearly keen to ensure he doesn’t set another unwanted record and miss back-to-back Majors for the first time since turning pro.
He will be joined at the 36-hole shootout in Dallas by fellow LIV players Graeme McDowell and Branden Grace. McDowell won the US Open in 2010 at Pebble Beach but hasn’t qualified since his 10-year exemption ran out in 2020.
As for Garcia, his best result in America’s national championship came in 2005 at Pinehurst No. 2 when he finished in a tie for third alongside Tim Clark and Mark Hensby, five back of winner Michael Campbell.
The remaining final qualifiers for the 2023 tournament at Los Angeles Country Club take place on May 22 and June 5 across 12 venues, 10 of which are in the United States, with the other two in Canada and Japan.
Two courses will be used at each different site to determine who books their place in the main draw, although it is as yet unknown the final field size and the number of qualifying spots that are up for grabs.
England’s Ross Fisher and David Horsey claimed two of the seven exemptions on offer at the final qualifier at Walton Heath on May 16.
As well as Garcia, Grace and McDowell, another 19 LIV Golf players have entered final qualifying. However, one name that doesn’t feature is Talor Gooch. The American saw his exemption disappear after the USGA amended its criteria in relation to the 2022 Tour Championship, adding a clause that players had to be eligible to tee it up in the FedEx Cup finale, which Gooch was not due to his ongoing suspension from the PGA Tour.
He therefore required a strong finish at the PGA Championship to get back into the world’s top 60 at the qualifying cutoff point on May 22, but failed to make the weekend at Oak Hills Country Club.
The 2023 US Open takes place from June 15-18.
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