Sergio Garcia Qualifies for U.S. Open for 24th Consecutive Year

Garcia, 43, shot back-to-back rounds of 66 to claim a spot in the upcoming U.S. Open in Los Angeles.

Jeff Ritter | May 22, 2023

Sergio Garcia Qualifies for U.S. Open for 24th Consecutive Year /

Make it 24 U.S. Opens in a row for Sergio Garcia.

Garcia advanced through sectional qualifying at Northwood Club and Bent Tree in Dallas on Monday, firing back-to-back rounds of 66 to claim one of eight U.S. Open spots available in the event. Garcia, who joined LIV Golf last summer, has fallen outside the top 200 in the Official World Golf Rankings because it does not award points for LIV events (he's No. 64 in the new Sports Illustrated World Golf Rankings), and Monday’s 36-hole qualifier was his only path into the field at Los Angeles Country Club June 15-18.

Garcia, 43, did not qualify for the recent PGA Championship at Oak Hill, which was the first major championship he wasn’t eligible for since the 1999 U.S. Open. Since the 1999 British Open, he had only missed one other major: the 2020 Masters, when he had COVID-19.

Garcia has five career top 10s in the U.S. Open, with his best finish a tie for third at Pinehurst in 2005.

There are 10 final qualifying sites hosting events on June 5, with nine in the United States and one in Canada. Nineteen other LIV players have entered final qualifying.

Graeme McDowell, Ryan Palmer and Ryan Moore were among the notables to fail to qualify in Dallas—each missed a playoff for a final spot by one shot.

McDowell’s 10-year exemption for winning at Pebble Beach ran out in 2021. He hasn’t played in a major since the 2020 Masters.

Published May 22, 2023

JEFF RITTER

Jeff Ritter is the managing director of SI Golf. He has more than 20 years of sports media experience, and previously was the general manager at the Morning Read, where he led that business's growth and joined SI as part of an acquisition in 2022. Earlier in his career he spent more than a decade at SI and Golf Magazine, and his journalism awards include a MIN Magazine Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.