Sergio Garcia ends the clock, fails to qualify for the Open Championship

Sergio Garcia, after complaining to the officials about being given a short playing time in his final Open Championship qualifier, again failed to make the field for the final major of the year on Tuesday.

The 44-year-old member of LIV Golf gained two strokes after shooting 71 and 70 over two rounds at Liverpool’s West Lancashire Golf Club, one of four venues hosting the final qualifiers on Tuesday. His 3-under par is tied for sixth, just four from West Lancashire to Royal Troon, where the Open will be held July 18-21.

“I’m coming here and trying my best to get into The Open,” Garcia said. “It would be great to make my 100th major The Open, but it was tough conditions and sometimes things don’t go your way. … I tried my best and that’s all I can ask myself.”

Garcia was caught on video complaining to R&A officials after being put on the clock, saying he was being shortchanged by fans at the venue.

“The marshals were trying to do the best job they could, but obviously, we had to stop a lot on every tee for two to three minutes to hit our shots because people were walking in front of the tee and the fairway,” Garcia said.

“Unless we wanted to start hitting people, we weren’t going to hit. I don’t think they were paying attention to that, and that was unfortunate. It made us rush.”

At one point, Garcia was heard telling officers, “It’s okay, don’t worry. You’re always right, we’re wrong.”

Amateurs Matthew Dodd-Berry and Sam Horsfield, both from England, shot 6 under, and will be joined at The Open by England’s Daniel Brown and Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura, who finished 5 under.

Garcia has never won an Open. He came closest when he lost to Ireland’s Padraig Harrington in the playoffs in 2007; he later tied for second in 2014. Garcia’s only major win was the 2017 Masters.

Veteran Justin Rose and LIV Golf’s Abraham Ancer are the standout golfers who entered the final course at Burnham & Berrow in Somerset. LIV Golf’s Anirban Lahiri did not advance.

Rose has been free for the better part of two decades and most recently won the AT&T Pebble Beach last year, but this year has been a struggle for the 43-year-old Englishman, who has fallen out of the top 50 in the world. . He realized his best option was a 36-hole UK qualifier

“You take it for granted,” Rose said. “As you get older, things get a little harder. It makes you realize how special The Open is.”

Rose is a former medalist at Burnham and Berrow with England’s Dominic Clemons, who played college golf last year at Stetson and recently signed with Alabama. Ancer and Sweden’s Charlie Lindh advanced to a three-man play-off, with Lahiri making a bogey on the first extra hole.

Jack McDonald, who grew up about 15 minutes from Royal Troon, won a playoff to secure the final spot at Dundonald Links and join Sam Hutsby, Angel Hidalgo and Irish rookie Liam Noland.

At the Royal Cinque Ports, Matthew Southgate led four players, two of whom are Spanish novices Jaime Montojo Fernandez and Luis Masaveu, who will be competing in the European team competition ahead of the 152nd Open Championship. The fourth was Elvis Smylie.

That makes the Open field 149 players, with 10 more spots up for grabs — two from the John Deere Classic, three from the Scottish Open and five European players among the top 20 in the Race to Dubai later this week.

Field Level Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.