We’re nearing the final major of the season, and players are gearing up to tee it up at Royal Portrush starting July 17 for the 2025 Open Championship. While past winners and top players on the OWGR earn a spot directly, other players have opportunities to qualify via sponsor exemptions or by competing in the final qualifier. And though there are several notable names to take part in the Final Qualifier being held on July 1, one player decided to give it a miss. “If I keep playing like I’m playing, I’ll have a shot at making it by myself,” said Sergio Garcia early this year. But did he eventually earn a spot, and did the confidence finally pay off?
Sergio Garcia has had a decent season on LIV Golf this year. He had a phenomenal start with a win in Hong Kong in March, and after 9 events, he’s had two top-10 finishes. His stellar play earned him a total of 78 points after the LIV Golf Dallas concluded on Sunday, and he’s now ranked 5th on the individual points standings. But everything was on the line in Maridoe this week, where Garcia began the event 4th in the points standings, and his play this week wasn’t going exactly as planned.
He carded a 3-over over 3 days in Dallas, and finished tied 25th for the week. But only the top 24 players in each event earn points, and Garcia’s past performances this season helped him scrape through to just earn the spot at The Open. He was congratulated, but he initially said, “Well, I want to make sure that it is true…” He then learnt of his qualification through the media on Sunday after the final round in Dallas. “It’s going to be my second time playing at Royal Portrush, and it’s obviously nice. It’s one of the goals that you have at the beginning of the year, to try to play as many majors as you can with the limitations that we get,” Garcia expressed, who last teed it up in Portrush in 2019, where he finished tied 67th.
While Garcia’s performances at the beginning of the season on LIV earned him good points, the last three months earned him none. “I didn’t help myself very much the last three months, but I’m glad that I got enough work done in the first third of the year, I guess, in the first part of the season. I’m excited about it, and hopefully I’ll play well,” he added, as he had no finishes within the top 25 in the last 4 events.
And Garcia almost lost the spot to David Puig, who was 17.9 points behind him at the start of the event in Dallas, and Puig was tied 4th before the final round concluded. Puig would have earned 18 points had he finished solo 4th. But luckily for Garcia, Puig tumbled down the leaderboard and finished tied 13th.
Our Captain is @TheOpen bound. @TheSergioGarcia secured the 2025 @LIVGolf_League exemption to The Open by being in the top five player ranking without an exemption already. pic.twitter.com/t6sz4k4JWK
— Fireballs GC (@fireballsgc_) June 30, 2025
But now that his spot has been confirmed, he’s excited to tee it up at what he calls his “favorite major.” While he missed playing at the major in the last two years since his move to LIV, he has played in every Open from 1998 to 2022. He recorded eleven top-10 finishes during this period. He has come very close to lifting the Claret Jug thrice in his entire career, with three runner-up finishes, the last being in 2014, when Rory McIlroy won his first major at the Royal Liverpool.
But besides the exemptions and past winner status, what are the other ways players can earn a spot at the most prestigious major?
Earning a spot at The Open
There are a number of ways players can earn a spot at the 153rd Open Championship. There’s usually a qualifier in place before the main event begins. There are regional qualifiers, which took place across 15 different venues across the UK and Ireland on 23 June, and then there is the Final Qualifying, which will be held on July 1. There are 20 spots up for grabs via these qualifiers, and prominent names like Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, and Eugenio Chacarra, among others, will be taking part in the final qualifier.
But there was another route for LIV players if they did not want to take part in the Qualifiers. The R&A announced early in February this year that “a new category has been introduced which will enable players competing in LIV Golf to earn a place in The Open.” Usually, the top 5 players on LIV’s individual points standings would earn a direct qualification at the Open. But now, the leading player, already not in that category, would also earn his spot, and that’s where Sergio Garcia got lucky. This R&A announcement came just days after the USGA announced the same criteria for a player earning a spot in the U.S. Open at Oakmont.
Do you think Sergio Garcia can deliver a stellar performance? Let us know in the comments.
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