After missing out on his second straight Open Championship by a few strokes in the final qualifying round, Sergio Garcia was photographed signing autographs for some young fans.
A sizeable crowd, perhaps a thousand, turned out to watch the 44-year-old champion play in West Lancashire, England on Tuesday, and it had an impact on the Spaniard’s game, he admitted.
Garcia was 3 under after rounds of 71-70 and during his opening round, Garcia was shown on video appearing to argue with someone off-camera, shouting, “You’re right, we’re always wrong!”
Sergio Garcia fumes over warning for slow play during Final Open Qualifying – he says fans are causing delays. Here he takes his ire out on two R&A officials.
“You’re right, we’re always wrong.” photo.twitter.com/hO2mzYgSRa
— Ben Parsons (@_benparsons) July 2, 2024
Ben Parsons of Bunkered, who was on the scene, reported that Garcia was unhappy with the lack of crowd control and that his group was under time pressure, despite often having to wait for the crowd to clear before they could tee off.
Parsons added that the R&A had increased the number of marshals for Garcia’s second round to 15.
Garcia told Parsons afterward: “It’s very simple. When you have 2,000 people following us without ropes, there’s nothing. The marshals tried their best, but of course we had to stop on each tee for 2-3 minutes to hit our shots because there were people walking in front of the tee and on the fairway. Unless we wanted to hit people, we couldn’t hit. I don’t think they took that into account and that was unfortunate. It forced us to rush. On a day like today, when the conditions are so difficult and you need a little extra time here and there, it doesn’t help.
“That’s why I made a few bogeys that could cost me entry to Troon.”
Garcia, who made four of his five bogeys in the first round, ultimately did not advance, although his LIV colleague Sam Horsfield was among the four others who did.
