Justin Rose went to great lengths to secure a spot at Royal Troon and it paid off Tuesday when he posted rounds of 66-68 to be among 16 players who qualified at four links courses for the British Open.
Sergio Garcia missed out for the second straight year as only two LIV Golf players qualified.
The British Open is July 18-21 at Royal Troon.
Rose has been exempt for the better part of two decades and most recently won the AT&T Pebble Beach a year ago. But this year has been a struggle for the 43-year-old Englishman, who dropped out of the top 50 in the world ranking. He figured his best option was 36 holes of qualifying in the U.K.
“You kind of take it for granted,” Rose said. “As you get a little older, things get a little harder. It makes you appreciate how special The Open is.”
Rose was co-medalist at Burnham and Berrow with Dominic Clemons of England, who played college golf last year at Stetson and recently signed with Alabama. Abraham Ancer of LIV Golf and Charlie Lindh of Sweden advanced from a three-man playoff, with LIV player Anirban Lahiri of India making bogey on the first extra hole.
Garcia was among eight LIV Golf players who failed to qualify. Garcia had rounds of 71-70 at West Lancashire and missed the four qualifying spots by two shots.
“It was tough conditions and sometimes things don't always go your way,” he said. “I tried everything I could and that's all I can ask of myself.”
Sam Horsfield of LIV Golf was among the four who made it from West Lancashire, joining Matthew Dodd-Berry, Daniel Brown and Masahiro Kawamura.
Jack McDonald, who grew up about 15 minutes away from Royal Troon, won a playoff to get the final spot out of Dundonald Links and join Sam Hutsby, Angel Hidalgo and Irish amateur Liam Noland.
At Royal Cinque Ports, Matthew Southgate led four qualifiers, two of them Spanish amateurs Jaime Montojo Fernandez and Luis Masaveu, who will be competing in the European team championship ahead of the 152nd Open Championship. The fourth was Elvis Smylie.
Among the LIV players who failed to qualify at Royal Cinque Ports were Graeme McDowell, Eugenio Chacarra and Branden Grace, whom Masaveu beat in a playoff.
That puts the Open field at 149 players, with 10 more spots available — two from the John Deere Classic, three from the Scottish Open and five European tour players who are among the top 20 in the Race to Dubai after this week.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
The Associated Press
