Big names sign up for Open Final Qualifying – but why isn’t Sergio Garcia one of them?

Major champions. PGA and DP World Tour winners. LIV Golf stars. Legends. All will tee up in Open Final Qualifying for the hope of earning a spot in the 153rd edition of golf’s oldest major…

Except one player who won’t be at Open Final Qualifying also happens to be one who can be placed under any of those categories. But we’ll get to that later.

First, here are the kind of names you can expect to see battle it out over four venues for 20 places at Royal Portrush…

PGA Tour and DP World Tour players taking part in Open Final Qualifying

We’ll start at Burnham & Berrow, where Justin Rose earned his place last year before going on to finish 2nd at Royal Troon.

Perhaps the most interesting story is that Eddie Pepperell is taking part. The Englishman, who recorded a T6 at Carnoustie in 2018, is currently taking a self-imposed break from golf after suffering from burnout.

Another player everyone will be rooting for is Chris Wood, who burst onto the scene at Royal Birkdale in 2008 when he finished T5 as an amateur, before a T3 the following year at Turnberry in his first year as a pro. Wood, who has been struggling with “chronic anxiety” in recent years, came tied-7th at the Turkish Airlines Open in May – his first top 10 since 2018.

Also competing on the Somerset coast will be PGA Tour regular Harry Hall, who last year won the ISCO Championship that runs adjacent to The Open, and Eugenio Chacarra, who left LIV Golf to rejoin the DP World Tour at the start of this year and within weeks triumphed at the Hero Indian Open.

DP World Tour veterans and former Ryder Cup players Oliver Wilson and Jamie Donaldson, who earned the decisive point at Gleneagles in 2014, will also tee up for a shot at Portrush.

Let’s stay down south and move to Royal Cinq Ports now, where three-time tour winner Erik van Rooyen will be looking for a spot at The Open – a tournament in which he has played three times and has two top-20 finishes, while recent US Open contender Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen is a literal big name taking part in Kent.

At West Lancashire, Alex Fitzpatrick will be hoping to step out of his brother’s shadow and build on the T17 he had in his only other Open appearance two years ago, while 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett will also be in the field on England’s Golf Coast.

And while earning $15 million on the PGA Tour might buy you a nice house, it doesn’t get you into the majors, so Alex Noren will also be at Dundonald to try his luck, as will four-time DP World Tour champion Rafa Cabrera Bello.

Also teeing up on Scotland’s west coast will be Kevin Chappell and Marc Warren, who between them have almost 900 starts across the two main men’s tours.

LIV Golf players taking part in Open Final Qualifying

Right, now we’re getting interesting.

By my reckoning, there are 17 full-time LIV golfers taking part in OFQ and two others who have competed in the league this season.

Let’s start at Dundonald, where the headline act is undoubtedly Lee Westwood. The Englishman, who has 27 wins across the European and PGA Tours as well as 11 Ryder Cup appearances, has six top-10s in The Open – five of which were top-four – has not played since the 150th at St Andrews.

Westwood will be joined by Branden Grace – the first man to shoot 62 in a major when he did so at Birkdale in ’17 – as well as Adrian Meronk and Minkyu Kim, who has stepped in as a reserve for the RangeGoats this season.

At Burnham & Berrow, Paul Casey is another player looking to make his first Open appearance since 2022, and he’ll be joined by Crushers teammate Anirban Lahiri, as well as Abraham Ancer, Caleb Surratt and Jinichiro Kozuma.

Lucas Herbert, Harold Varner III, Andy Ogletree and Sam Horsfield are teeing up at West Lancs, but Royal Cinq Ports is where it’s at if you want to see LIV players doing their thing.

Among them is Ian Poulter, a runner-up to Padraig Harrington in 2008, and former US Open champ Graeme McDowell.

Other LIV golfers heading to Kent include David Puig, Dean Burmester, Peter Uihlein, and Luis Masaveu – who has just been dumped by Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs in favor of another hot-headed Spaniard.

Anyone else?

Of course. Joining his dad in Deal is Luke Poulter, who lost in a playoff at US Open Final Qualifying, while YouTube star Peter Finch will be looking to continue his good form from Regional Qualifying at Dundonald.

So why isn’t Sergio Garcia playing in Open Final Qualifying?

“If I keep playing like I’m playing, I’ll have a shot at making it by myself,” the Spaniard told TG in March about the possibility of qualifying for what he calls his “favorite major”.

Garcia played in every Open from 1998 to 2022 and recorded 10 top-10 finishes in that spell – including in 2007 where he squandered a three-shot overnight lead before losing an ill-tempered playoff to Padraig Harrington.

But this year The R&A have opened up a spot to the highest-placed player in the LIV Golf standings who is otherwise not exempt.

That invite will be dished out after this week’s LIV event in Dallas, and Garcia obviously feels confident that he will qualify via that route.

Currently fourth behind Joaquin Niemann, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, who have already booked their spots at Portrush, Garcia will head to Texas with a six-point lead over fifth-placed Lucas Herbert.

Garcia will need to overturn his recent league form, though. His last three finishes have been T38-T42-50 and only players in the top 24 earn points at each event.

As we say here in England, it’s squeaky bum time for Serg.

• You can follow Final Qualifying on The Open website.