Justin Rose came through qualifying for The Open at Royal Troon but his ex-Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia came up agonisingly short for the second successive year.
Rose has played in every Open since 2007 when fit – he was absent in 2022 because of a back injury – and extended that run after taking one of four places in final qualifying at Burnham Burrow in Somerset.
The 43-year-old former US Open champion, who has missed the cut at four of his last five majors, was eight under par for 36 holes and finished level with fellow Englishman Dominic Clemons, who just over a week ago was denied a spot at Troon when he was beaten in the final of the Amateur Championship.
“Right now I’ve a little bit of a buzz because it’s super exciting to have got through,” Rose told Sky Sports.
“There’s moments where you’ll just want to qualify for The Open just to be at another Open – and that might come in my career – but I still feel like 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.”
While Rose kept his Open dream alive, further north at West Lancashire near Liverpool, Garcia finished two strokes adrift of the top four, just as he had done 12 months ago.
The 44-year-old’s low world ranking after joining LIV Golf means the only major he currently qualifies for on merit is The Masters as a former champion.
He remains a big name, evidenced by the hundreds of people who followed him, but that created its own problems as there were significant delays on every hole because of the huge gallery.
It resulted in his group being given a warning after eight holes as they had fallen four minutes behind play but Garcia said that was unfair due to the circumstances and felt that had contributed to a couple of dropped shots which would ultimately prove crucial.
“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.
“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.”
Garcia was looking to qualify for his 100th major, which will now somewhat fittingly be marked at Augusta National next year.
The Spaniard was surpassed by Royal Liverpool amateur Matthew Dodd-Berry, who finished joint-top at West Lancashire on six under with Sam Horsfield, with fellow DP World Tour professionals Dan Brown and Masahiro Kawamura also qualifying.
Another Englishman, Matthew Southgate, took top spot at Royal Cinque Ports on six under, ahead of Australia’s Elvis Smylie and Spanish amateur Jaime Montojo.
At Dundonald Links, just five miles from Royal Troon, England’s Sam Hutsby came out top on eight under, with Spaniard Angel Hidalgo and Irish amateur Liam Nolan joint second on five under and Scot Jack McDonald coming through a play-off.
Sky Sports is once again the home of The Open, with round-the-clock action on Sky Sports Golf and live coverage from all seven days of tournament week at Royal Troon.
There’s six hours of live coverage on Monday July 15 and seven hours on Tuesday, with 10 hours of build-up, news and interviews on Wednesday ahead of the final men’s major of the year getting under way on Thursday July 18.
Wall-to-wall begins from 6.30am for the first two rounds, ahead of the opening tee shot at 6.35am. There is also lots of extra coverage available throughout each day via the red button on Sky Sports Golf, along with Sky Q and Sky Glass, with Featured Groups and Featured Hole feeds.
Who will win the final men’s major of the year? Watch The 152nd Open at Royal Troon live from July 18-21 on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the PGA Tour, majors and more with NOW.
